1 



PS 3525 
.fl25 T5 
1914 
Copy 2 



A THOUSAND 
YEARS AGO 



Percy MacKaye 




Class / rJ f'O^vc^ 



Gopyriglit]^^. 



/£^/ 



i-r>i 7> / ^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



y 

The Drama League Series of Plays 



VOLUME II ^ 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 






Copyrighty 1914 , by 
PERCY MACKAYE 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE SHXJBERT THEATRICAL CO. 



In its present form this play is dedicated to the reading 
public only, and no performances of it may be given. 
Any piracy or infringement will be prosecuted in accord- 
ance with the penalties provided by the United States 
Statutes : — 

Sec. 4966. — Any person publicly performing or representing 
anv dramatic or musical composition, for which copyright has 
been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor of the said 
dramatic or musical composition, or his heirs or assigns, shall be 
liable for damages therefor, such damages in all cases to be as- 
sessed at such sum, not less than one hundred dollars for the 
first and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to 
the Court shall appear to be just. If the unlawful performance 
and representation be wilful and for profit, such person or per- 
sons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction be 
imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year, — U. S. Revised 
Statutes, Title 60, Chap. 3. 



JAN 13 1914 



©CI.D 3 56 J 7^'^ 



TO 
HERMANN HAGEDORN 

Singer of flashing swords 
Lover of olden songs 

" Miming Romance, seductive Adventure 
Amorous Magic, improvised Comedy 
And all the love-charming, blood-thirsty 

Enchantments 
Our prosy old workaday world has lost wind of '' 



Iv] 



THE AUTHOR 

Percy MacKaye, the author of this play, was born 
in New York City, March 16, 1875 — a son of Steele 
MacKaye. He graduated from Harvard with the 
class of 1897 and shortly afterward spent two years 
in Italy and at the University of Leipzig. In 1904 
he joined the Cornish (New Hampshire) Colony 
and has since devoted himself to literary and 
dramatic work. He is a member of the National 
Institute of Arts and Letters. 

Following is a list of his published works: 

The Canterbury Pilgrims: A Comedy. 

The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer. 

Fenris, the Wolf: A Tragedy. 

Jeanne D'Arc: A Tragedy. 

Sappho and Phaon: A Tragedy. 

The Scarecrow: A Tragedy of the Ludicrous. 

Lincoln Centenary Ode. 

Mater: An American Study in Comedy. 

The Playhouse and the Play. Essays. 

A Garland to Sylvia: A Comedy. 

Anti-Matrimony: A Satirical Comedy. 

Yankee Fantasies. Five One-Act Plays. 

To-MoRROW. A Play in Three Acts. 

Poems. 

Uriel, and Other Poems 

The Civic Theatre. 

Sanctuary: A Bird Masque. 

A Thousand Years Ago 

[vi] 



Original Cast of the Play as first produced in Boston, at the 
Shubert Theatre, December 1, 1913 



WILLIAM A. BRADY (Ltd.) 

PRESENTS 

A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 

A Romance of the Orient 

BY 

PERCY MACKAYE 

"Here in China, the luorld lies a-dreatn, like a thousand 
Years ago, and the place of our dreams is eternal." 

(The play is an original comedy, suggested by the Persian romance in 
"The Thousand and One Tales," wherein is recited the adventures of 
t alafi Prince of Astrakhan, and the beautiful Princess of China.) 



CAST OF CHARACTERS 

Asiatic 

UTRANDOT, Princess of Pekin Rita Jolivet 

ALTOUM, her father. Emperor Frederick Warde 

ZELIMA, her slave Fania Marinoff 

CALAF, Prince of Astrakhan Jerome Patrick 

BARAK, his servitor Frank McCormack 

CHANG, Eunuch Edmund Roth 

European 
SCARAMOUCHES fSheldon Lewis 

PUNCHINELLO \ Tr^„„K^„H T>io,r^,o f^ n- i ) Bennett Kilpack 
PANTALOON ( " • Vagabond Players from Italy. . < ^Hen Thomas 

HARLEQUIN J ^Joseph Smith 
CAPOCOMICO, their leader H. Cooper CliflFe 

Lords of the Royal Divan 
Hugh Nixon, John P. Savage, Anthony Romack, Reginald Simpson 

Beggars 
William H. Dupont and W. Bradley Ward 

[vii] 



Soldiers of Pekin 

David Earle, Charles Muche, Thomas Edwards, Joseph Reed, Howard 

Jackson, Carl Textoris, Joseph Weston, James Bannister 

Tea Bearers 
Franklin Montgomery and John Leons 

Court Attendants 
Philip Sheridan and Robert W. Gest 

Female Attendants 

Marie Benton, Daisy Miller, Ruth Pierson, Constance Howard, 
Elsie Oates and Sybil Maitland 





SCENES 




Act I 




City Gate at Pekin 




Act II 


Scene 1: 


Room in the Imperial Harem 


Scene 2: 


Great Hall of the Emperor 



Act III 
Scene 1: Turandot's Dream 

(1) The Mountains 

(2) A Street 

Scene 2: Anteroom of the Harem 
Scene 3: Calaf s Bedchamber 

Act IV 
Great Hall of the Emperor. (The same as Act II, Scene 2) 



Play produced under the direction of Mr. J. C. Huffman 
Interpretative music composed by William Furst 



EXECUTIVE STAFF 

Tarkington Baker Manager 

Frederick Schader Business Manager 

Frank McCormack Stage Director 

^l&^ywTrd"} Staee Managers 

William Furst Musical Director 

[ viii] 



PREFACE 

The present play is an original comedy, of which 
certain elements in the plot have been suggested by 
the old Persian tale which is the theme of the eigh- 
teenth century Italian comedy "Turandotte," by 
Carlo Gozzi, translated into German by Friedrich 
Schiller. 

It is not a revision or rewriting of that work. 

It is an entirely new play. 

Since, however, some modern productions have re- 
cently been made in Germany, England and America, 
under the title of "Turandot," it is fitting to make 
clear the relation which my play bears to those and 
to the older productions of Gozzi and Schiller. 

In January, 1762, "Turandotte" by Carlo Gozzi 
was first acted by the Sacchi company of players 
at Venice. It was one of a number of "improvised 
comedies" — or Commedie deW Arte Improvisata 
— composed by Gozzi in his single-handed artistic 
war against the more naturalistic works of Goldoni, 
his contemporary. 

[ix] 



PREFACE 



The plots of these comedies, or Fiabe, were de- 
rived from nursery or folk-tales. They were acted 
by masked, or semi-masked players. Their tech- 
nique was based on the old Italian form of scenari. 
This form is described by John Addington Symonds, 
in the Preface to his "Memories of Count Carlo 
Gozzi," as follows: 

"Comparative study of these scenari shows that 
the whole comedy was planned out, divided into 
acts and scenes, the parts of the several personages 
described in prose, their entrances and exits in- 
dicated, and what they had to do laid down in 
detail. The execution was left to the actors; and 
it is difficult to form a correct conception of the 
acted play from the dry bones of its ossatura. * Only 
one thing afflicts me,' said our Marston in the Preface 
to his Malcontent: 'to think that scenes invented 
merely to be spoken, should be inforcively published 
to be read.' And again in his Preface to the Fawne: 
* Comedies are writ to be spoken, not read; remem- 
ber the life of these things consists in action.' If 
that was true of pieces composed in dialogue by 
an English playwright of the Elizabethan age, how far 
more true is it of the skeletons of comedies, which 
avowedly owed their force and spirit to extempora- 

[x] 



PREFACE 



neous talent! Reading them, we feel that we 
are viewing the machine of stakes and irons 
which a sculptor sets up before he begins to mould 
the figure of an athlete or a goddess in plastic 
clay. 

"The scenario, like the plat described for us by 
Malone and Collier, was hung up behind the stage. 
Every actor referred to it while the plaj^ went for- 
ward, refreshing his memory with what he had to 
represent, and attending to his entrances.'* 

Written as scenari Gozzi's acted Fiabe were emi- 
nently successful in their day, and established his 
works as models of a dramatic taste which, toward 
the last of the eighteenth century, it became the 
desire of cultivated Germans to introduce into their 
own country. 

With this object in view, Goethe and Schiller 
selected *'Turandotte" as a foreign comedy worthy 
to be translated and adapted for production at the 
Weimar Theatre. Accordingly Schiller recast in 
poetic form a German version of Gozzi's play, made 
by Werthes, and produced it at Weimar, in honor of 
the birthday of the Grand Duchess, wife of Karl 
August, on January 30, 1804. In details of this re- 
casting he was assisted by Goethe. 

[xil 



PREFACE 



The attempt, however, thus to "elevate the taste 
of the German public" was not successful. 

More than one hundred years later. Dr. Max 
Reinhardt produced in Berlin a play based on Schil- 
ler's "Turandot" made by Karl Voellmueller. In 
1912 an English translation of this version by Jethro 
Bithell was produced in America by the Shubert 
Theatrical Company, and after a brief run on the 
road was withdrawn from the stage, ^n Januarj^, 
1913, it was also produced for a short run in London 
by Sir George Alexander. 

Considering the version as it stood to be in need 
of changes for their purposes, the owners of the 
American rights requested me to suggest and make 
the changes. To this I replied that to make altera- 
tions or adaptations of the version did not appeal 
to me, but if the owners would like to give me entire 
freedom to write a new and original play on the 
theme of the Persian folk-tale used by Gozzi suit- 
able to the scenic settings of Reinhardt's production, 
I should be glad to do so. This freedom was 
courteously given, and the present play was written 
in the late spring and early summer of this year, 
and placed in rehearsal in October. 

In writing my play, then, I have used for my own 

[xii] 



PREFACE 



purposes the folk- tale material treated differently 
by Gozzi, and in so doing I have entirely recon- 
ceived the story and its situations, omitting many 
characters of the old tale, introducing and creating 
several new ones, and characterizing all from a fresh 
standpoint.* 

The chief male character of my play, for instance, 
Capocomico, is wholly new. The name is that 
which was given to the director or choregus of the 
old Italian troupes of the Commedia deW Arte, 
concerning which Symonds writes in his Preface 
before referred to: 

"The Choregus was usually the Capo Comico, or 
the first actor and manager of the company. He 
impressed his comrades with a certain unity of tone, 
brought out the talents of promising comedians, 
enlarged one part, curtailed another, and squared 
the piece to be performed with the capacities he 
could control. *When a new play has to be given,' 
says another writer on this subject, *the first actor 
calls the troupe together in the morning. He re^ds 

*Since the date of the commission for my play, the translation 
of **Turandot" by Jethro Bithell has been published m America 
by Duffield & Company, New York, so that the Gozzi-Schiller-Voell- 
mueller dramatic version of the folk-tale is thus made available for 
English readers. 

[ xiii ] 



PREFACE 



them out the plot, and explains every detail of the 
intrigue. In short, he acts the whole piece before 
them, points out to each player what his special 
business requires, indicates the customary sallies 
of wit and traits of humor, and shows how the several 
parts and talents of the actors can be best combined 
into a striking work of scenic art.' " 

The four "Maskers" of my play, followers of 
Capocomico, are, of course, my own renderings of 
the types familiar to the old Italian comedies. 

For their dialogue in the introductory scene of 
this modern comedy in English, I have invented 
for them (or rather made use of, for the first time, 
for modern actors) a form of spoken verse suggestive 
perhaps of the voluble, capricious, unnaturalistic 
spirit of fantasy common to them : embodied espec- 
ially in their leader and spokesman, Capocomico. 

Needless to say, " A Thousand Years Ago " his- 
torically speaking, there were no disciples of the 
school of la Commedia deWArte to invade old China, 
but fantasy and comedy are older (and younger) 
than the schools. As Capocomico himself remarks 
to Punchinello : 

" Here is China the world lies a-dream, like a thousand 
Years ago, and the place of our dreams is eternal." 

[xiv] 



PREFACE 



To the stage production of the play Mr. J. C. 
Huffman has brought the admirable powers of his 
vital directorship. 

The theatrical rights are owned and reserved by 
the Shubert Theatrical Company, of New York. 

Percy MacKaye. 

Cornish, New Hampshire, November, 1913. 



Ixvl 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

The author, in his preface, has explained the pedi- 
gree of "A Thousand Years Ago.'' It is the chief 
advantage of long pedigrees that they allure us from 
the contemplation of the present to the investigation 
of the past; and, for students of dramatic literature, 
perhaps the most important feature of this present 
play is that the tracing of its ancestry leads us back 
to one of the most interesting periods in the history 
of the theatre. 

In his quotations from John Addington Symonds, 
the great English authority on the Renaissance in 
Italy, Mr. MacKaye has already set before us the 
main features of the Commedia delV Arte Improvisata, 
which flourished in Italy for several centuries; but a 
few additional notes may be appended for the benefit 
of those who wish to extend their study of this type 
of drama. Two books upon the subject are readily 
accessible and may be strongly recommended. One 
of these is the ''Histoire du Theatre Italien'' by 
Louis Riccoboni, and the other is a volume entitled 
" Masques et Boufons'' by Maurice Sand, the son of 

[xvii ] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



Georges Sand, the famous novelist. Both of these 
books contain interesting illustrations of the stock 
characters in Italian comedy; and the pictures in 
''Masques et Boujffons'* are reproduced in colors. 

The Commedia delV Arte attained its climax about 
the year 1600, but its career was extended well along 
into the eighteenth century by the interested activity 
of the very fertile and very popular playwright. 
Carlo Gozzi. The essential feature of this type of 
drama was that the lines were improvised by the 
actors as they worked their way through the scenes 
of an intrigue which had been carefully plotted in 
advance. Throughout the seventeenth century 
in Italy, the general public showed little patience 
with the Commedia Erudita (the phrase may be 
translated into contemporary slang as "High-brow 
drama"), in which the lines were written out by a 
man of letters and repeated by the actors parrot- 
wise. Such plays, though they might have been 
composed by poets as eminent as Torquato Tasso, 
were condemned by the populace because they 
lacked what seemed the essential element of spon- 
taneity. It will not be difficult for us to understand 
the attitude of the Italian public toward this dis- 
tinction, if we apply a similar test to our own con- 

[ xviii ] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



temporary art of after-dinner speaking. We de- 
mand of our after-dinner speakers that they shall 
cull their phrases as they go along, and we respond 
with dulness to a speech that has been evidently 
written out and learned by rote. The president of 
one of our great American universities has been 
quoted as saying that any professor who writes and 
learns a lecture is merely insulting the printing- 
press; there can be no advantage in speaking on a 
subject unless the speaking be spontaneous: and 
this was the attitude of the old ItaHan public toward 
the actors that addressed it from the stage. 

A single set sufficed for most of the improvised 
Italian comedies. This set represented a public 
square in an Italian town, a meeting-point of several 
streets; and the houses of the leading characters 
were solidly built with doors and windows fronting 
on the square. With the action set in such a public 
place, the playwright could experience no embar- 
rassment in motivating his entrances and exits; any 
characters could meet at any time in the neutral 
ground of the stage; and the practicable doors and 
windows of the surrounding houses could be em- 
ployed by acrobatic actors in the exhibition of 
exciting scenes of elopement or of robbery. 

[xix] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



One of the most definitive features of the Corn- 
media deir Arte was the fact that, though the plays 
presented differed greatly from each other in subject- 
matter and in plot, they invariably employed the 
same set of characters. The individual actor ap- 
peared in many different plays, wearing always the 
same costume and the same mask. Harlequin made 
love to Columbine in play after play; the Doctor, 
from Bologna University, repeated the same sort of 
pedantries in plot after plot; and the Captain Spa- 
vento (a lineal descendant of the Miles Gloriosus of 
Plautus) swaggered through story after story. 
Individual actors became so completely identified 
with the stock characters they assumed upon the 
stage that they bore in private life the conventional 
names of their impersonations. A letter is extant 
which was sent by Henry Fourth of France (the 
gallant Henri Quatre of Navarre) to a famous actor 
of Italy inviting him to bring his company to Paris; 
and this letter is simply addressed to Harlequin, 
since the royal patron had no knowledge of the 
actor's actual name. Similarly, the famous Scar- 
ramuccia from whom the immortal Moliere learned 
the rudiments of his craft as a comedian — an actor 
described in a rhymed chronicle of the time as "/e 

[XX] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



roi des comSdiens et le comedien de rois^^ — has come 
down to us in history under the title of Scaramouche, 
with no recollection of his parental name. 

The modern stage exhibits many analogies to this 
identification of an actor with a single role. For 
instance, in the old days of the association of Weber 
and Fields, these comedians always appeared in 
precisely the same parts, regardless of any difference 
of subject-matter in the comic scenes that they pre- 
sented. Mr. Weber invariably depicted a fat little 
man who was easily gullible; and the leaner and 
more strenuous Mr. Fields was forever getting the 
better of him and using him as a butt for ridiculous 
persecution. At the present time, Mr. William Col- 
lier approaches very nearly the method of the old 
Italian actors. Regardless of the particular points 
of any play in which he chooses to appear, he always 
represents precisely the same character — a peren- 
nial dramatization of his individual traits as a come- 
dian; and he also habitually exercises the Italian 
actor's license of improvisation in the presence of an 
assembled audience. 

Five of these standard acting types of the Corn- 
media deir Arte are revivified by Mr. MacKaye in 
his new play on Gozzi's old theme. The most inter- 

[xxi] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



esting figure is the Capocomico — the leader of the 
troupe, who devises the scenari of the plays which 
they present and rehearses the other actors in the 
business of their respective parts. This creation of 
the author's is an evocation of a famous figure from 
a nigh-forgotten page of the storied past of the 
theatre, and may serve easily as a starting point 
for a series of very interesting researches under- 
taken by individual students of the history of the 
drama. 

Though Mr. MacKaye's play has been written 
appropriately in English verse, aptly varied in its 
forms to be spoken by the modern actor, the reader 
should remember that this drama is designed to 
appeal more emphatically to the eye than to the 
ear. It should be regarded as a modification of that 
type of Decorative Drama which was exhibited by 
Professor Reinhardt in his masterly production of 
the pantomime of ^'Sumurun." For his background, 
Mr. MacKaye has chosen an old tale of the Arabian 
Nights which is hung before the eye as a fantastic 
bit of oriental tapestry; and in the foreground he 
has exhibited in silhouette the sharper colors of the 
prancing figures of his group of Italian comedians. 

More subtly, this play may be conceived as a 

[ xxii 1 



I 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



parabolic comment on a problem of the theatre at 
the present time. The histrionic disciples of Carlo 
Gozzi, the eighteenth century champion of tradi- 
tional romance, are depicted as having lost their 
fight in Venice against the dramatist Goldoni, who, 
as a follower of Moliere, was regarded at that time 
as the leader of the realistic movement; and, des- 
pairing of being accepted any longer in the country 
of their birth, these romantic outcasts have sought 
refuge in the distant orient, an orient to be considered 
in no sense as historic or realistic, but as purely 
fantastic. At the present time, our theatre has 
been conquered (for the moment) by sedulous re- 
corders of the deeds of here and now; we find the 
drama in the throes of a new realism, more potent in 
its actuality than the tentative and groping realism 
of Goldoni; and our romantic playwrights, like these 
old adventurous and tattered histrions of Carlo 
Gozzi, have recently sought refuge in the fabulous 
and eye-enchanting orient. Hence the success, in 
recent seasons, of such romantic compositions as 
'' Kismef' SLYid^'Sumurun'' and "The Yellow Jacket'' 
To escape from the obsession of Broadway and the 
Strand we now turn eagerly to the gorgeous east, 
just as these discarded comedians of Gozzi's sought 

[ xxiii ] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



a new success within the enchanting and alluring 
gates of the city of Pekin. 

Furthermore, by restoring to our stage the old 
European tradition of masks in his group of "Mas- 
kers," Mr. MacKaye flings a prophetic shaft in the 
age-long tourney between symbolism and naturalism 
in the arts of the theatre. 

Clayton Hamilton. 



[ xxiv ) 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



A Thousand Years Ago 



CHARACTERS 



Asiatic 



turandot 
Altoum 
Zelima . 
Calaf . 
Barak . 
Chang . 



scaramouche . 
Punchinello . 
Pantaloon . . 
Harlequin [Mute]. 
Capocomico . 



Princess of Pekin 

Her father, Emperor 

Her slave 

Prince of Astrakhan 

His servitor 

Eunuch 

European 



Vagabond Players from Italy 



Their leader 



[s] 



SCENES 

Act I. 
City Gate at Pekin. 

Act n. 
Scene 1 : Room in the Imperial Harem. 
Scene 2 : Great Hall of the Emperor. 

Act in. 
Scene 1 : Anteroom of Harem. 
Scene 2: Calaf's Bedchamber. 

Act IV. 

Great Hall of the Emperor. 
[The same as Act II, Scene 2.] 



[4] 



ACT FIRST 



ACT FIRST 

Outside a city gate, at Pehin. 

Above the gate, in a row, severed heads of young men 
are impaled on stakes. On the wall, at one side, more 
heads of older men, with grizzled locks, stare down: 
among them, conspicuous, one with a white heard. 

It is early morning; the sun just rising. 

The gate is closed. 

From behind is heard barbaric martial music. 

Outside, from the right, drums roll, and Chinese 
soldiers enter, axicompanied by a few beggars and peas- 
ants. 

Pausing before the gate, they sound a trumpet. 

The gate is opened and they pass within, followed by 
all, except two beggars, a young man and a middle aged. 

The gate remains open. 

The middle-aged beggar points upward at the head 
with the white beard. 

The younger starts, and prostrates himself beneath 
it with a deep cry. 

[7] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Outside^ on the lefty a twanging of stringed instru- 
ments sounds faint but merry. It draws nearer ^ and 
quickly the players come running on — five tattered, 
motley vagabonds in masks: Scaramouche, Harlequin^ 
Punchinello, Pantaloon and Capocomico, 

The last, leading them with his baton, stops in the 
gateway, before which Harlequin executes a ballet-step 
dance, while Scaramouche, Pantaloon, and Punchi- 
nello play accompaniment on guitar, mandolin and 
zither. 

Breaking off, Punchinello begins to improvise an 
imitation of Harlequin s dance, but being beaten over 
his hump with a thwacking stick by Harlequin, retreats 
with grotesque pantomime. 

At their merriment, the younger beggar, rising, draws 
away with the elder, making a tragic gesture toward the 
white-bearded head on the wall. 

Perceiving them, Capocomico silences the musicians 
and approaches the younger beggar curiously . 

Stepping between them, the older beggar salaams 
and asks alms. 

Laughing, Capocomico turns his empty pouch wrong- 
side-out and bows obsequiously, extending his own palm. 

The other Maskers do likewise, sticking out their 
tongues. 

is] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Shrinking from them, the younger beggar draws the 
older away with him, and goes off, left. 

CAPOCOMICO 

[Waving them adieu] 
Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, befriend you ! — 

[Turning to his troupe] 
Behold, my cronies, beggars — beggars 
Bow down to us! Lo, they take us for lordlings! 
Ha, what did I tell you? Our tables are turning: 
In China henceforward we shall be emperors. 

SCARAMOTJCHE 

By the carcase of Charlemagne, I'm dog-aweary 
Of twanging these gutstrings for breakfast. 

PANTALOON 

And us, too. 
Of dancing from Venice to Pekin, for sixpence. — 
My slippers need soling. 

PUNCHINELLO 

My poor hump is hollow! 

CAPO. 

Our journey is ended! Nimble Sir Harlequin, 

[9 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[Bowing to each] 
My lord Pantaloon, signore Punchinello, 
Magnificent Scaramouche — enter your Kingdom ! 

SCARAMOUCHE 

Enter it ! — Now, by the eye-balls of Argus 
Where is this same kingdom, Signore Capocomico? 
My kingdom is Breakfast : Show me the gateway ! 

CAPO. 

[Pointing] 
Behold it before you! Within there, the table 
Of Fortune is spread for us, served by her hand- 
maids — 
Miming Romance, seductive Adventure, 
Amorous Magic — improvised Comedy, 
And all the love-charming, blood-thirsting Enchant- 
ments 
Our prosy old workaday world has lost wind of. 

SCARAMOUCHE 

Ha, beard of Balshazzar! that warms me a bellyful! 
'Twas all for the likes of such merry contraptions 
We were kicked out of Europe. 

[10] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

Precisely, my bully -boy! 

What would you? — At home, half the world is dys- 
peptic 

With pills of reformers and critics and realists. 

Fun for its own sake.^^ — ^ Pho, it's old-fashioned! 

Art with a mask on.f^ — Unnaturalistic, 

They warn you, and scowl, and wag their sad peri- 
wigs. — 

So we — the unmatched, immortal, Olympian 
Maskers of Antic, — we, troop of the tragical. 
Symbolical, comical, melodramatical 
Commedia delV Arte — we, once who by thousands 
Enchanted to laughter the children of Europe — 
Behold us now, packed out of town by the critics 
To wander the world, hobble-heel, tatter-elbowed, 
Abegging our way — four vagabond-players, 
And one master director — me, Capocomico ! 

PUNCHINELLO 

But why did you fetch us to China? 

CAPO. 

Because, my 
Punchinello, in China there are no technicians 
To measure our noses and label them false ones, 

[11] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Or question our subplots and call them fictitious. 
Here in China the world lies a-dream, like a Thousand 
Years Ago, and the place of our dreams is eternal. 
Here in China Romance still goes masquing serenely 
With dragons, magicians, clowns, villains and heroes, 
So that five motley fellows like us may resume our 
Old tradetricks, and follow our noses to fortune! — 
For a taste point your own. Punch, up there at the 
gate-stone ! 

PUNCHINELLO 

[Staring up at the heads] 
What pretty young princes ! — But where are the 
rest of them? 

SCARAMOUCHE 

By Saladin ! They've plenty of room for their break- 
fast! 

PANTALOON 

It makes me light-headed to look at them. 

CAPO. 

Comrades, 
Consider, I ask you, where else but in China 
May an audience view so romantic a prologue? 
These gentlemen open the comedy : Yonder 
Behold, in the sunrise, they flaunt their grim Secret 
For us to unravel: — Who are they? What means it 
That here, on a gateway of Pekin, these gory 

[12] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Oracular heads stare downward in silence? 

And yonder — those others? Who's he in the white 

beard? — 
Love, jealousy, murder — what is their mystery? 
By the ghost of old Gozzi, now what are we good for 
Unless we untangle their shadowy intrigues ! — 
Follow me, then, my playboys! Before the next 

sunrise 
Your pouches shall burst with the gold of their 

Secret. — 
Follow me ! — Yonder heads are our mascots to 

fortune ! 

[Striking their instruments and running 
through the gate, they all disappear 
within. As their tinklings die away, 
the two beggars reenter y from the left] 

THE YOUNGER BEGGAR 

[Prostrating himself again before the white 
bearded heady rises with up-lifted arms] 
Father ! — O slaughtered King of Astrakhan, 
Timur, my father ! — 

THE OLDER BEGGAR 

[Fwtively] 

Calaf ! Have more care; 
There may be ears to listen. 

[13] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

[Distractedly] 

Let them hear! — 
Oh, he has held me, Barak, on his knee. 
And as a httle boy I clutched that beard 
With playful fingers: golden brown it was 
In those days, and the first bright silver hair 
When I had found and plucked it out — , his eyes — ■ 
Oh, those poor staring eyes ! — they laughed with 

light, 
And with those mummied lips, — red, then, as wine — 
He kissed my cheek, and his warm, happy tears 
Wet my own face, childish with wonder. — Ah, 
My father! 

BARAK 

Hush! The soldiers of Altoum 
Surround us here. 

CALAF 

Altoum! damned emperor 
Of China — I will be avenged on him 
Who killed my father, and destroyed our kingdom! 

BARAK 

And what are you to be avenged on him? — 
A beggar. 

[14] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

I am prince of Astrakhan! 

BARAK 

No longer; he is dead. Remember, prince, 
How you were drowned a year ago. That night 
Altomn destroyed your capitol in war. 
You leaped in flight into the river Yen 
And perished there. — Do not forget. 

CALAF 

Forget? 
Forget that night? That night I died indeed, 
And rose from out the river's chilly death 
Into strange paradise: A garden, walled 
With roses round : A moon, that zoned with pearl 
A spirit there: a lady, garbed in gold 
And her more golden smile ! Wrapt in disguise — 
A beggar's cloak, which you had hid me in. 
The river's ooze still staining me with slime — 
On me — me, outcast and destroyed, she smiled, 
And tossed for alms the white rose from her hair! — 
[Taking from his hosom a withered rose, 
he looks on it rapturously] 
My deathless rose ! 

[15] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BAKAK 

The rose of Turandot 
Is dangerous as her smile. 

CALAF 

Ah, were it not 
That Turandot is daughter of Altoum, 
I would have been avenged before to-day. — 
But he who killed my father — is her father, 
And she is more than life or death, and mightier 
Even than a father dead and unavenged: 
She is love. 

BARAK 

Ah, desperate boy, you nurse this love 
On worse than poison. Calaf, hark to me. 
Have I not served you and your royal father 
Faithfully.? 

CALAF 

More than faithfully: lovingly. 

BARAK 

Then by my love of you, I beg you, boy, 
Crush your mad love for Turandot, which must 
Lead only to your death, and hasten with me 
Far from your enemy's city. 

CALAF 

My enemy's? 
[16] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BARAK 

Altoum, if he should find you living, would 
Spike your head — yonder. Ah, be wise, my prince ! 
Root out this rashness. Throw that rose away. 
See, it is withered — dead. So let your love be! 

CALAF 

[Smiling] 
Only a lover rightly loves the rose! 
Withered, you tell me ? — dead ? How dull is the sense 
Which does not feel the soul! For me, Barak, 
This flower still blooms, and round it all the air 
Is sweet with spirit-perfume, even to swooning. 

BARAK 

[Rising] 
Then it is vain. — My middle age has lost 
Its smell for magic. Well, then, I must be 
Content to play the beggar with my prince. 

CALAF 

Yes, it is vain. For, still I'll wear her rose. 
And, in this beggar's cloak she smiled upon. 
Still haunt her perilous city. — I have heard 
This morning she shall pass this eastern gate 
Coming from the palace. — So, my old dear friend. 
Wait with me here, for I can only live 
By feeding on the glimpses of her face. 

117] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BARAK 

Come, then, this way and beg, for folk are coming. 
[They draw toward the gate. Baraks start- 
ing fearfully, drags Calaf away left] 
Great heaven — the emperor ! 

CALAF 

The emperor! 
Wait, Barak. Stop ! — No further. 

[On the edge of the scene, they crouch 
hy the wall, like beggars. Through 
the gate enter Altoum amid Chinese 
courtiers, accompanied by Capocomico 
and followed by the other Maskers] 

ALTOUM 

[To Capocomico] 

An instant is enough 
For inspiration, and you have inspired 
Fresh hopes in me. 

CAPO. 

That is my specialty. 
Your majesty. 

ALTOUM 

Yet it is strangely sudden : — 
You and your motley troop spring in my path 

[18] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Like gorgeous mushrooms from exotic soils. 
And tempt me by your brilliance and surprise 
To taste your newness. — Well, I am desperate: 
Old remedies have lost their tonic; home 
Physicians have proved quacks. I know them all 
You — I know not. Therefore I will accept 
Your services. 

CAPO. 

We are practitioners 
In every specialty, my liege. If we 
Fail to perform our utmost promise — well, 

[Pointing to the gate] 
Our heads are decorative; they will adorn 
Your majesty's collection. 

ALTOUM 

Nay, not mine. 
Those grizzled heads of warriors on the wall 
Are mine: the trophies of my victories. 
But those above the gate — those youthful brows 
Of tragic lovers, hapless in their love — 
Those are my daughter's. 

BARAK 

[To Calaf] 

Do you hear, my prince? 
His daughter's ! Oh, take heed ! 

[19] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

Your majesty 
Allures me. Is your daughter — 

ALTOUM 

Hush ! Come closer. 
[He leads Capocomico aioay from the cur- 
tain, right. Calaf follows furtively, 
heedless of Barak's gestures] 
My daughter is my cause of desperation. 
In all but her I have been fortunate: 
In peace, most prosperous; in war, my worst 
Of rivals, Timur, king of Astrakhan — 

[Pointing at the wall] 
Yonder you see his head ! None of his house 
Survives to avenge him, for his only son 
Perished by drowning. 

CALAF 

[To Barak, who implores him to draw 
back] 

God! if I remain, 
I'll kill him. 

BARAK 

[Drawing him away] 
Come! 
[They go within the gate] 
[20] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
Was this long since, my liege? 

ALTOUM 

This day one year ago. — Some months I kept 
Old Timur caged before I bleached him there. — 
And strangely it was on that very night 
I conquered Astrakhan the change began. 

CAPO. 

The change — my liege! — what change? 

ALTOUM 

In Turandot, 
My daughter. Always till that time her mind 
Was tender-mannered as her face is fair. 
Till then, there was no creature living whom 
She would have harmed, even with a thought of 

pain — 
Least of all those who loved her. But that night. 
Groping by moonlight from her rose garden 
Into my war tent, half distractedly 
She forced from me a promise — 

CAPO. 

What to do? 

ALTOUM 

To make this edict: For a year and a day, 
All royal suitors of her hand in marriage 

[21] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Must answer first three rid'dles put by her: 
To him who answers right she shall be wed; 
But all who answer wrong shall straightway die 
And their dissevered heads be spiked in scorn 
High on the city's gate. 

CAPO. 

[Looking at the gate] 

So those are they 
Who answered wrong! 

ALTOUM 

None yet has answered right.. 

CAPO. 

But why, my liege — 

ALTOUM 

Why did I give consent 
To publish the mad edict? This is why: 
I worship Turandot. There is no whim 
Of hers I would not grant to make her happy, — 
But ah! — how can I make her so.^^ 

CAPO. 

Is she 

Unhappy, then, in her success? 

ALTOUM 

At times 
She weeps to hear the headsman's gong, but when 

[22] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Her lovers cry to her for pity, straight 
Her eyes grow cold with sudden cruelty 
And give the sign for death. 

CAPO. 

Have you no clue 
For this? 

ALTOUM 

[Distractedly] 
No clue? Gods of my ancestors, 
Have I not sought a thousand counsels, all 
In vain ! - — A gentle girl, a dove of maidens, 
Sudden transformed to be a thing of talons — 
A harpy -tigress ! Clue? What clue have I 
For murder in the bosom of a dove? — 

CAPO. 

Softly, my liege. That is my specialty. 

ALTOUM 

So I have heard from specialists before; 
Yet now I feel new hope. If you shall find 
This clue — whether it be some hidden, strange 
Indisposition, or some secret reason 
Concealed by her — and if you find the cure, — 
To you, and to these motley friends of yours, 

[23] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



I will bequeath power and provinces 

And wealth unbounded. But — pay heed, Sir Capo! 

If you shall fail to find this cause and cure. 

By holy Confucius, I will doom you all 

To tortures and slow death. So to perform 

Your task, I grant one day — until the hour 

Of noon to-morrow. Are you satisfied 

To undertake the task.^^ If not, begone! 

CAPO. 

Your majesty, I am most itching pleased 
To undertake it — on conditions. 

ALTOUM 

What? 

CAPO. 

For this one day I must be emperor. 

In place of you, and these my motley friends — 

Prime-ministers . 

ALTOUM 

My star! — What then, Sir? 

CAPO. 

Then, 
My liege, I most devoutly stake my head 
And theirs, with these our masks thereto pertaining. 
Not merely to ascertain the cause and cure 
Of your fair daughter's malady, but also — 

[24] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



For this, my liege, is my true specialty! — 

I undertake to see her happily 

Plight in a perfect marriage of romance. 

ALTOUM 

Great Buddha! Now, this quickens my stale blood — 

To meet one man of live audacity! 

Ha! bid me abdicate — usurp my throne — 

A one day's emperor! — Good; be it so. 

Agreed: — But on your head the consequences! 

CAPO. 

May the consequences let my head be on ! — 
Where shall I find your daughter? 

[A deep bell sounds within the walls. 
Calaf reenters with Barak] 

ALTOUM 

Hark! the gong! 

CAPO. 

What gong? 

ALTOUM 

The gong of death : the execution. 
Another hapless lover has guessed wrong 
The fateful riddles. Now the headsman holds 
His head, and Turandot is coming here 
In state, to impale the gory token — yonder. 

[ 25 1 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BARAK 

[To Calaf] 
You hear! — You hear? 

CALAF 

O happy lover, whom 
The dearest of women honors so in death! 

BARAK 

Madness ! 

ALTOUM 

[To Capocomico] 
By heaven, I am impatient of 
Such slaughter. See you stop it. 

CAPO. 

[Nodding loftily] 

We shall bear 
In mind your supplication, Sir. — Meanwhile 
My crown ! 

[He extends his hand for Altoum's 
crown. Altourriy startled , smiles t 
takes it o;ff and hands it to him] 

ALTOUM 

Gods of my ancestors ! 

CAPO. 

[Putting on the crown] 

And now 
Present to us our court! 

[26] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ALTOUM 

[Bows, laughing] 

Well said, my liege! 
[Turning to the Chinese courtiers, he 
beckons them] 

Doctors and ministers of the royal Divan! 
Witness our will : — Until to-morrow noon 
We abdicate our throne, and in our place 
Appoint, with all our high prerogatives, 
Our friend and servant — Capocomico. 
Salute your emperor! 

CAPO. 

[Nodding affably] 

Emperor, pro tern I 

THE CHINESE COURTIERS 

[With murmurs of astonishment, pros- 
trate themselves before Capocomico] 



Salaam ! 



CAPO. 



Not at all. Delighted! We will now 
Present our friend and servant — Scaramouche, 
Prime-Minister ! 

[27] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[The courtiers salaam before Scara- 
mouches who puts his hand on his 
heart and blows them a kiss from his 
drawn sword-point] 
And next, Sir Harlequin, 
Prime-Minister ! 

[The courtiers repeat. Harlequin re- 
plies with a ballet-curtsy] 
His lordship, Pantaloon, 
Prime-Minister ! 

[The courtiers repeat. Pantaloon shuf- 
fles nervously] 
And Signore Punchinello, 
Prime-Minister ! 

[The courtiers repeat. Punchinello ^ tap- 
ping his nose, bows sagely. The 
four Mashers assume toploftical airs 
and gather about Capocomico] 
And now, Prime-Minister, are your four heads 
All dumb? Your emperor awaits advice. 

SCARAMOUCHE 

By the belly of Baal, your majesty, I move 
We all adjourn to breakfast. 

[28] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PANTALOON 

[Quickly] 

Second the motion! 

PUNCHINELLO 

Hear! hear! Applause! 

[Harlequin dances to the gate] 

t 

CAPO. 

[Correctively] 

No applause in court! The motion 
Rests on the table — 

[To Scaramouche] 

with your breakfast. — Now 
More pressing matters urge : Our imperial 
Daughter — Princess of Pekin — comes. 

ALTOUM 

[Gasping] 

Your daughter! 

CAPO. 

Daughter, pro tern ! — 
[To all] 
The princess Turandot: 
Salute her! 

[To the intermittent toll of the deep gong, 
soldiers enter with procession to slow, 
[29] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



martial music. Amongst them, with 
regalia, a Headsman hears on a pike 
the head of a young man, which he 
places beside the others over the gate. 

Finally, accompanied by female slaves, 
comes Turandot, dressed like her fol- 
lowers in garb of gloomy splendor. 

In the crowd Calaf gazes at her pas- 
sionately. With him is Barak. 

The Chinese courtiers prostrate them- 
selves. 

The Maskers bow in European fashion] 

THE CHINESE COURTIERS AND CROWD 

Turandot ! Salaam ! 

CAPO. 

[Speaks familiarly to the emperor] 
Altoum, 
Present to us our newly adopted daughter! 

ALTOUM 

Turandot, heaven to-day has interposed 
To grant your prayers. Listen! 

TURANDOT 

[Looking with wonder at Capocomico 
and the Maskers] 

I am listening, Sire. 
[SO] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ALTOUM 

'Tis your strange prayer never to marry. Well, 
Henceforth I vow no more to oppose your whim. 
One year has passed and one day yet remains 
Of my rash law that dooms your lovers to death. 

[He points to the new head upon the 
wall] 
For that one day, to celebrate my vow 
And do you pleasure, I have appointed these 
Princes of Faraway, to usher in 
Our new regime. Sir Capocomico 
Is now your emperor; these are your court 
To make a festa of the law's last day. — 
After to-morrow you are free forever. 

TURANDOT 

Sire, are you jesting? 

CAPO. 

Signorina, all 
We dream or do is jesting, and ourselves 
The butts of the jester. We are antics all. 
To advertise it is my specialty. 
Therefore, if we be kings or deuces hangs 
On how the clever jester cuts his pack. 
This cut I'm king, and 

[31] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[Pointing to the Maskers] 

red is trumps, not black. 
So doff your mourning, daughter. 

TURANDOT 

If I am dreaming, 
Or you are jesting, this is the pleasantest jest 
My heart has dreamed in all one doleful year. 
Princes of Faraway, I welcome you. 
This bloody sport of spiked lovers' heads — 
I'm tired of playing it. Those heartless fools 
That sought to wed a princess 'gainst her will — 
Look how they read my riddle on the air! 
Love is a slippery necklace. — Bring me laughter, 
My one day's Sire, and I will bow me low 
And kiss your garment. 

CAPO. 

Go and change your own, then, 
To match our motley. 

TURANDOT 

I will go — and laugh 
In going. 

[To her slaves] 

Come ! 

[Turandot starts to return within the 

gate. Pushing through the crowd, Calaf 

[321 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



prostrates himself before her, with a 
passionate cry] 

CALAF 

Alms ! — alms for hearts 



That beg! 



[Reaching toward her^ Calaf holds up 
the withered rose. 

Gazing, Turandot pauses an instant, 
moves past, hut, looking hack, stag- 
gers, trembling] 

TUKANDOT 

Ah me! 

[Swaying, she swoons in the arms of 
her slave, Zelima] 

ZELIMA 

My lady! 

CAPO. 

[Rushing toward her, with Altoum] 
Quick! She's falling! 

ALTOUM 

Turandot ! — Kill the beggar. 

TURANDOT 

[Faintly, recovering] 

No, 'tis nothing. 
[33] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[To Capocomico] 
Here, give him this. 

CAPO. 

[Taking it, astounded] 
Your ring? 

TURANDOT 

A token. Sire. — 
A token of our new regime: to all 
My people — blessing, and to beggars — love. 
[She goes out] 

ALTOUM 

[Going with her] 
Attend her well, Zelima. 

[All follow after, and at a gesture from 
Capocomico, pass out. Near the gate 
the Maskers pause and wait for Capo- 
comico, who returns to Calaf] 

CAPO. 

Fellow, rise! 
[Calaf staggers to his feet] 
Your most high princess graciously bestows 
This alms — a ring, in token of her love 
To all the world. 

[34] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[Taking it^ Calaf falls again to the 

ground. Barak comes to him. 
Capocomico watches, and beckons, twink- 
ling, to the Maskers] 
Now heaven witness this : — 
He also swoons. My play-boys, catch your cue. 
Who said Romance is buried? Here is China 
Where princesses and beggars swoon to meet! — 

[Surreptitiously, he takes from Calaf s 
side a wallet. Then beckons the 
Maskers.] 
Prime-Minister, follow your emperor! 

[He departs with the Maskers] 

BARAK 





[With solicitude] 




Calaf - 


- my prince ! 






[He raises him to 


a sitting posture] 




CALAF 






[Dazedly] 






Her ring! 






BARAK 


We must be gone 


Danger surrounds us here. 






[35] 





A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

[Rising] 

Her ring for token! 
But ah! — he said "to all the world." 

BARAK 

Be quick! 

CALAF 

[With suddenness] 
I will. This instant I will follow her. 

BARAK 

Follow her! — what, to death? 

CALAF 

Death or delight, 
Either or both, for death itself were joy 
For her sake. 

BARAK 

Do you wear that ring in hope? 
A beggar? 

CALAF 

No, she gave it as an alms, 
"To all the world." The princess of the world 
Would never stoop in love to wed with less 
Than royal blood. — There is no hope for me, 
A beggar. 

[36] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BAEAK 

How, then — ? 

CALAF 

T. will go as prince — 
As Calaf, prince of Astrakhan, I'll go 
To guess her riddles — like those others. 

BARAK 

No! 
That would be doubly death. Your head is forfeit 
If you are even found. 

CALAF 

Few know me here, or none. 
In Pekin; yet though every dog should know me 
I'll do it. — Here, keep safe this beggar's cloak: 
I love it for her sake. This ring and rose 
Guard as your life. Come now; help me remove 
This stain and straggled beard. Then wait for me. 
Till I have won my love — or perish there ! 

[Pointing to the heads on the gate, he 
rushes into the city.] 

BARAK 

[Following him] 
Lord of mad lovers, save him ! 



Curtain. 
[37] 



ACT SECOND 



ACT SECOND 

Scene I: A Room in the Harem 

On a low bench Zelima is seated, sewing a gorgeously 
embroidered garment. About her are other female slaves. 
At the back stands Chang, the chief Eunuch, 

ZELIMA 

[Stops sewing and listens] 
There! Hark! I hear it again. 

CHANG 

I can hear nothing. 

ZELIMA 

You're growing deaf, Chang. Some one is knock- 
ing — softly. 

CHANG 

[Opening the door, left] 
No one is here. 

ZELIMA 

Below — at the outer door. 
See who it is. 

[41] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CHANG 

I will see. 

[He goes out, closing the door. Zelima 

sews for a moment; then rises, puts 

away her needle and spreads out the 

garment, surveying it. 
From the right Turandot enters, splen. 

didly arrayed. 
She runs impetuously to Zelima and 

embraces her] 

TURANDOT 

Zelima! Zelima! 
Little Zelima! 

ZELIMA 

[Ajll^ectionately] 
My lady! 

TURANDOT 

Dance with me ! — Dance ! 

ZELIMA 

I heard a knocking, my lady. 

TURANDOT 

[Pressing her left side] f 

You heard it — here. 
My lover is knocking, and I have let him in. ^ 

[ 42 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ZELIMA 

[Frightened] 
You've let him in, my lady? 

TURANDOT 

[Laughing] 

Into my heart! 
He came a-begging. Oh, does he love me, Zelima? 

ZELIMA 

[Concernedly] 
He kept your rose. 

TURANDOT 

The rose I tossed from my garden 
In Astrakhan, one year ago to-night — 
Isn't he handsome, Zelima? 

ZELIMA 

[With conscientious pause] 

Handsome, my lady? 

TURANDOT 

Splendid and fair like a prince! 

ZELIMA 

He is a beggar. 

TURANDOT 

I spoke of his soul — his eyes. His eyes are sap- 
phires; 
All other men's are clay. 

[43] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ZELIMA 

[Dubiously] 

His face was dirty. 

TURANDOT 

[Slapping Zelima^s arm] 
Stop it, you dunce! His face was nobly tanned 
By sun and rugged wind. 

ZELIMA 

I thought his beard — 

TUBANDOT 

His beard — God did his best : I want no better. 

ZELIMA 

You — want a beard, my lady? 

TURANDOT 

Stupid Zelima! 
Where's my new robe? I'll wear it to-day — for 
him. 

ZELIMA 

[Helping her on with the embroidered 
garment] 
You like it? 

TURANDOT 

Are not gold and gorgeousness 
For joy? To-morrow ends my year and a day. 

[44] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Then no more suitors — no more severed heads ! 
I shall be free then — free to search for him 
Through all the city. 

ZELBIA 

Search for a beggar! Why, 
My lady? 

TURANDOT 

Must I scratch your silly eyes out 
To make them see? — Of all men that love women, 
I will have none for husband — if he'll have me — 
But him, the man to whom I gave my ring. 

ZEUMA 

Holy Confucius save you, lady! You, 
Princess of Pekin, wed a beggar! 

TURANDOT 

Hush! 
Unless I dream so and rejoice to-day 
Then I must wake and tear my flesh for grief 
That I was born Princess of Pekin. Oh, 
Little Zelima, let me dream I am 
A beggar-maid, or he, my beggar — a prince! 

ZELIMA 

I hope your royal father hears no word 
Of this, my lady. He would kill your lover 
Sooner than you should wed him. 

[45] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TUKANDOT 

I know it well. 
So I have kept my secret this long year, 
And let full many a brave prince lose his head 
To hide my true love. Do not make me weep 
Again for pity and despair. For now 
Fresh hope has come. This Capocomico 
Has changed my father's heart to set me free 
To-morrow. Only one more day is left; 
You only know my secret; none can guess it; 
And for this final day there is no suitor 
To claim my hand. 

[Chang enters, left, in perturhation. Tur- 
andot looks up inquiringly] 
Well — well? 

CHANG 

Another suitor 
Has come, my lady. 

TURANDOT 

Nay, alas! 

ZELIMA 

T\Tiat, — here.'' 
Is he at the door? 

[46] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CHANG 

Not him, — the emperor 
Is at the door. He comes to tell you, lady. 
And asks admittance. 

TURANDOT 

What, my father! 

CHANG 

[Fidgetting] 

Not 

Your royal father: The new emperoi 

Is here. 

TUKANDOT 

Sir Capo here! 

ZELIMA 

[Appalled] 

Here, in the harem! 

CHANG 

What should I do, your highness? 

TURANDOT 

[Staring] 

What can it mean.? 

CAPO. 

[Entering y left] 
The new regime, fair ladies ! 

[To Zelimay who runs with the other slave 
girls toward the door, right] 
[47] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



I beseech you, 
Do not be timid: All true love romances 
Are hatched in harems. 'Tis my specialty. 

[Dressed in rohes of royal splendor^ 
Capocomico stands smiling at them] 

TURANDOT 

Sir, this intrusion breaks our ancient law. 

CAPO . 

To-day — O lovely daughter ! — / am the law 
And legalize intrusion. 
[To Chang] 

You may go. 

[Chang pauses, dubious, hut at a gesture 
from Capo, departs hastily. Zelima 
goes timorously to Turandot, whose 
eyes flash] 

TURANDOT 

Will you make entrance here against our wills. 
Or why, then, have you come? 

CAPO. 

[Smiling] 

For a beggar's sake. 
[48] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

[With sudden start] 
A beggar's? 

CAPO. 

What I bring will fill four ears — 
No more. 

TURANDOT 

[Faintly] 
Zelima, wait within — close by. 
[Zelima goes outy right with the slave girls] 
Well, Sire, what do you bring me.'^ 

CAPO. 

Riches, child. 
In a ragged wallet. 

[He takes out Calafs wallet^ and holds 
it toward her.] 

TURANDOT 

[Starting] 

This! Why bring me this? 

CAPO. 

Hold it, and feel how heavy. 



TURANDOT 

[Slowly takes it, peering in] 

Why, 'tis empty. 
[49] 



A THOUSAND YEAKS AGO 



CAPO. 

What is so heavy as an empty heart 

Hollow with yearning ! This has yearned for love 

Until it cracked. Look there — those sorry gashes 

TURANDOT 

What should I do with it.?^ 

CAPO. 

Heal its wounds, and fill it 
With royal favor. 

TURANDOT 

[Reticent] 

Sire, you talk in riddles. 

CAPO. 

Daughter, you kill in riddles. — Will you kill, 
Or heal, this beggar's heart I bring? 

TURANDOT 

Ah me! 
[No longer suppressing her feelings, she 
kisses the wallet passionately.] 
How have you guessed my soul? How have you 
guessed? 

CAPO. 

The souls of lovers are my specialty. — 
When princesses grow pale, and beggars swoon, 
Then I bring forth my wallet — and prescribe. 

TURANDOT 

Alas — he swooned? Where is he? Is he ill? 

[50] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
Unnecessary questions, child: Of course 
He swooned. Where is he.^^ He's in love, 
Of course, and so of course is deathly ill. 

TURANDOT 

Oh, by the simple truth you've torn from me, 
Do not, I beg, speak sideling, but straight out : 
That beggar whom I love — how fares he now.f^ 
Where have you left him? 

CAPO. 

By the city gate. 
There, when he saw your ring, he fell in swoon; 
And so I left him. 

TURANDOT 

[Passionately] 

Find him! Find him for me. 
And I will give you kingdoms! 

CAPO. 

Kingdoms, child. 
Are shaky things. Give me your confidence: 
Then I will find him for you. 

TURANDOT 

All my faith. 
My gratitude and wonder — they are yours ! — 
When will you fetch him.? 

[51] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

Soft! To achieve for you 
Joy in a perfect marriage of romance — 
That is my vow. 'Tis yours, for a single day. 
To swear me loyalty. 

TTJRANDOT 

I swear it. — Ah, 
But do not tell my father. He would kill 
My hopes. 

CAPO. 

Your father — I will educate; 
And for your low-born lover, I'll despatch 
The eight proud legs of my prime-minister 
To stalk the city till they stumble on him. 
By nightfall, I will give you news what luck 
They meet. Meantime, you must prepare once more 
Your riddles for your final suitor. 

TtTRANDOT 

[Appalled] 

What! 

CAPO. 

Keedur, the young khan of Beloochistan, 
Waits in the hall below, to try his fate 
To-day. 

[52] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

Keedur? Another! Must another 
Still die on this last day? Oh, misery! 
And I to run the awful risk once more ! — 
When must this be? 

CAPO. 

This hour, in the great hall 
Of the imperial Divan. Rest you merry, 
My child, and whet your riddles sharp. — Good-bye ! 

TURANDOT 

[Detaining him by a swift gesture] 
Not yet! Stay yet a little: Help me! 

CAPO. 

How? 

TURANDOT 

To shape my riddles so no man that lives 
Can answer them. 

CAPO. 

[Bows, smiling] 

Why, that's my specialty. 

TURANDOT 

[Slowly, with desperation.] 
Capo, those riddles hold his life or mine : 
If Keedur guesses them — I'll kill myself. 

Curtain 
[53] 



A THOUSAXD YEARS AGO 



Scene II: Great Hall of the Emperor's Divan. 

On either side is a high tower, with entrance. 

Down scene on the left stands the Emperor's throne, 
opposite the throne of Turandot. 

As the curtain rises, Scaramouche, Punchinello, 
Pantaloon, and Harlequin enter, dragging in Barak 
by four purple ropes attached to his neck. 

Barak carries a ragged bundle. 

At the centre he falls, prostrating himself before them. 

The four Maskers are dressed sumptuously in Chi- 
nese garments, ivorn over their own tattered garbs 
of motley, which — at times, when they gesticidate or 
move abruptly, — are fantastically visible. 

BARAK 

Mercy and clemency, your higlinesses ! 

PUNCHINELLO 

Your highness, slave! Address thy vermin speech 
To the Prime-Minister. 

BARAK 

To which, O Lord? 
[54] 



i 



I 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



SCARAMOUCHE 

By the eye of Og and head of Hamongog, 

To us, thou quaking mongrel! Howl thy prayers 

Quadrately to thy quadrigeminal master! 

BARAK 

[Revolving himself fearfully] 
Mercy, O Master! 

PANTALOON 

First confess thyself! 
Where is he? 

PUNCHINELLO 

Where's thy fellow beggar? Speak! 

SCARAMOUCHE 

Tooth of the Turk ! — Disgorge him ! 

[Harlequin thwacks Barak on the head 
with his flat- stick] 

BARAK 

Lord, I know not. 
I am an old poor man. I have no fellow 
To beg with me. 

PANTALOON 

Thou lousy bag of lies ! 
He swooned beside thee at the city gate. 

[55] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PUNCHINELLO 

He took the Princess' ring for alms. Where is he? 

SCARAMOUCHE 

[Tightening his rope] 
By Sardanapalus ! Squeeze off his neck 
And pick the secret from his gullet. 

BARAK 

[As Harlequin bangs him again] 

Spare me! 
[Enter, left, Capocomico] 

CAPO. 

Hah ! here's our beggar's crony. — Where's thy mate. 
Old gaffer? 

BARAK 

Spare me, lord ! I have no mate — 
I beg alone. 

CAPO. 

Where was he found — this fellow? 

SCARAMOUCHE 

Godbodikins! We caught him gutter-skulking 
Behind the palace. ^ 

CAPO. 

What's here in this pack? 
[56] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



BARAK 

[Fearfully clutching his bundle] 
Old rags, your mightiness: poor worthless pickings. 

CAPO. 

Conduct him to my quarters. Search him there 
And look what this contains. 

[The four begin to drag him out with 
the ropes] 

BARAK 

A — yi! Alas! 

PUNCHINELLO 

[Mocking him] 
A — yi, old pickings ! 

SCARAMOUCHE 

[Pulling] 

Sacrasacristan ! 
Heave-ho, my hearts! 

CAPO. 

Hold him in custody 
Till I can question further. 

BARAK 

[Crying aloud] 

Calaf, save me! 

PANTALOON 

We'll save 'ee in salt, old calf ! 

[57] 



A THOUSAND IZARS AGO 



SCAKA3HOUCHE 

Yank-ho, there! 
[They drag him out, left] 

CAPO. 

[Stands meditating] 

Calaf! 

[Hardly have they disappeared, when 
Calaf enters hastily, right, looking 
about him with a startled expression. 
He is dressed in princely regalia, and 
his face is shaved. Seeing Capo, he 
pauses abruptly, and makes obeisance] 

CAPO. 

Greetings, Sir Keedur! — You are searching here? 

CALAF 

[Embarrasssed\ 
Nothing, your majesty. It seemed I heard 
A voice here cry in terror. 

CAPO. 

Cry — on whom f 

CALAF 

Nay, Sire, I do not know. 

CAPO. 

'Twas just a beggar 
That cried at being expelled. 

[58] 



I 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

Expelled? — Where to? 

CAPO. 

[With a flitting smile] 
You — care to know? 

CALAF 

Nay, Sire, why should I care? 

CAPO. 

Nay, why indeed? You caught me querying. 

CALAF 

[Turning to leave] 
Forgive that I disturbed your thoughts. 

CAPO. 

My thoughts 
Were trying to construe the beggar's cry. 
*'Calaf, save me!" he called. 

CALAF 

[Pausing, with a faint start] 

Ah — Calaf? So! 

CAPO. 

An odd coincidence, for 'tis one year 
To-night since Calaf, prince of Astrakhan, 
Perished by drowning in the river Yen. — 

[With slow emphasis] 
He was the Emperor's arch-enemy. 

[ 59 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

[Calmly] 
An odd coincidence ! 

CAPO. J 

And still more odd 
It might be — might it not? — if Keedur, Khan 
Of far Beloochistan, had chanced to know 
Or meet this Calaf . 

CALAF 

Still more odd. 



CAPO. 

Perchance 
He never did! 

CALAF 

[Fidgetting slightly] 

I never met him, Sire. 

CAPO. 

[With a quick glance] 
That being so, we must no more delay 
Your audience with the princess. My ear itches. 
Methinks by that your suit will prosper; let me 
Conduct you to your place of waiting. Come, 
And by the way, I will confide to you — 
I have a specialty. 

[60] 



I 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

In what, Sire? 

CAPO. 

[Smiling, as they go out] 

Riddles. 
[Enter Altoum and Chang. They look 
after Capo as he departs] 

ALTOUM 

In the harem, with my daughter — ? 

CHANG 

[Obsequiously] 

Even so, 
O Majesty. 

ALTOUM 

And closeted, you say. 
An hour with her ! 

CHANG 

An hour, O Majesty. 

ALTOUM 

But you kept watch: The Princess, she was not 
Alarmed? 

CHANG 

Her royal highness seemed 
Moved in her spirit, O Majesty. 

[61] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ALTOUM 

Moved? So! 
Well, Chang, inform me further what you note. 
To-day this stranger reigns as Emperor. 
Obey him. 

[Capo reenters, right] 

CHANG 

[Salaaming to a gesture of dismissal 
from Altoum] 

As your Majesty decrees. 
[Exit] 

ALTOILM. 

[Greets Capo cordially] 
Hail, friend ! You wear my Empire as you'd worn it 
Life long. 

CAPO. 

[Laughing] 
I'll wear it longer if you like. 

ALTOIIM 

Perchance I'll let you. As for me, I feel 
Lighthearted as a schoolboy playing truant. 
This abdicating gives me appetite 
For holidays. — And what success so far? 

[62] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
So far — perfection. 

ALTOUM 

Have you, then, discovered 
My daughter's malady .^^ 

CAPO. 

I've diagnosed 
Already, and prescribed. 

ALTOUM 

[Eagerly] 

What is the ailment? 

CAPO. 

Ah! question the doctor when he makes the cure. 
Another twenty hours ! 

ALTOUM 

To rule is sweet, 
I see. Good luck attend your reign! If so, 
I have four kingdoms waiting for your fellows. 
And for yourself a petty empire — but^ 
Forget not — Sire! For failure I've prepared 
Five torture chambers and a sharpened axe. 

CAPO. 

Tomorrow, then, four kingdoms shall have kings! 
As for the petty empire, I'll return it 

[63] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



With compliments, and count myself well quit 
To have served your Majesty and true Romance. 

[Kettledrums are sounded within] 
Now, then, to pass the first ordeal. — Pray follow! 

ALTOHM 

[Attending him, left] 
This suitor Keedur — I like well his looks 
And bearing. TMiat if he should guess the riddles? 

CAPO. 

That lies now with the Fates — and they obey me. 

[They go out. 

To the sound of kettledrums, tambourines 
and music outside, the scene is now 
for a moment empty. Then from 
both entrances two processions enter 
simultaneously. 

From the right enter Eunuchs and 
female slaves of the harem; from the 
left Chinese soldiers and courtiers 
of the Emperor's suite. 

With ceremonial, salaaming and flare 
of music, the persons in the proces- 
sions group themselves on either side 
about the thrones. 
[64] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Entering last in their separate proces- 
sions come Turandot and Capocomico 

— the latter accompanied by Altoum, 
as a subordinate. 

On the right throne Turandot sits, on 
the left — Capocomico. 

All the others prostrate themselves, except 
Altoum,who stands beside a lesser seat, 
at the right of Capo's throne. 

Having taken their positions, at a signal 
from Capo, all are served with tea in 
little cups, which they sip simultane- 
ously thrice, then resume their former 
obeisances. 

To this gathering now enter three of the 
Maskers — Scaramouche, Punchi- 
nello and Pantaloon — bearing sever- 
ally three golden platters, on which 
stand little jewehd boxes, closed. 

Behind them follows Harlequin, who 
bears a great parchment roll, which 

— with bows and ballet-dancings — 
he lays before the throne of Capo; 
then takes his stand at Capo's left. 

Lastly Calaf enters, alone, 
'[65] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Bowing to the throne, he remains in 
the centre, where he gazes rapt at Tur- 
andot. 

Capo now rises, and Altoum seats him- 
self] 

CAPO. 

Powers of our royal Divan and our Harem, 
Once more, in token of our sovereign will. 
We are assembled. Let the law be read! 

[He sits. Harlequin, stepping forward 
with a flourish, presents the roll of 
parchment to Punchinello, who, ex- 
changing with him his platter for the 
script, reads in a shrill voice] 

PUNCHINELLO 

To high Confucius and our ancestors — 
Worship and awe! The edict of Altoum 
In re the royal princess Turandot 
Perpends: To suitors of her august hand 
Who guess her riddles — marriage, riches, joy! 
To all who fail — shame, execution, death ! 
None save of royal blood shall qualify. 

[Harlequin receives back the roll from 
Punchinello, and resumes his place] 
[66] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
Who seeks the august hand of Turandot? 

CALAF 

[Standing forward] 
I, Keedur, Khan of great Beloochistan. 

CAPO. 

Keedur, full many noble youths before you 
Have made this trial; all have failed — and died. 
Have you considered well their doom, O Klian? 

CALAF 

There is no doom for me but loss of her; 
If then I fail, death can but ease my doom. 

TURANDOT 

[In a low voice] 
His eyes, Zelima! Oh, I would he'd look 
Another way. 

ZELIMA 

It is a lovely youth. 

CAPO. 

Think well, you are young. You may even still 

withdraw 
A.nd live these many years. 

[67] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

[His eyes meeting Turandofs, who looks 
at him anxiously] 

If I must die, 
I shall have lived forever in this instant. 

CAPO. 

Then let the trial proceed. 

TURANDOT 

Fair stranger, first 
Hear me, and so relent. 

CALAF. 

My spirit, lady. 
Stands tiptoe to your words. 

TURANDOT 

You have not well 
Considered what you seek; but I, who know. 
Can better advise you. Turandot you seek. 
But I, who know this Turandot, can tell you 
She is a lady of too little worth 
To cause the noble lineage in your blood 
To die. She neither wants you, nor your death. 
Now leave her. Sir, and give her leave to wish you 
Joy of your twice escape. 

[68] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

I hear you, yet 
I hear hke one who dies out on the desert 
And dreams he hears sweet water tinkling. — Lady, 
I parch and drink dream-water. Would you dash 
That boon from my soul's lips? 

TURANDOT 

Nay, then, no more ! 
Hear now my riddles. — But, I pray you, look not 
This way, but elsewhere. 

CALAF 

I will close my eyes 
And look upon you, listening. — I am ready. 

[Closing his eyes, he waits with a faint 
smile] 

TURANDOT 

Tell me, O friend: What is that flower 

Which, dying, steals its lover's breath. 
And being dead, still blooms in death, 
Living beyond its little hour 
To grow more sweet in fragrance as it grows 
In memory? 

[ Turandot gazes pityingly. Calaf speaks 
with closed eyes] 
[69] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

A withered rose. 

[Turandot starts suddenly from her 
throne and sinl's hach, ivhispering 
to Zelima. Capo despatches Harle- 
quin to Turandot, icJio gives him 
tremblingly a key, which he carries 
to Scaramouche] 

CAPO. 

Unlock the secret box. 

SCARA^IOUCHE 

[As Harlequin unlocks the little box on 
his platter and presents to him a strip 
of parchment from within it, reads 
aloud] 
A withered rose. 

[A murmur runs through the assembly] 

ALTOUM 

Now by my star, well guessed! 

CAPO. 

[With a gesture for silence] 

The second riddle! 

TURANDOT 

[With emotion] 
Stranger, you are the first of all my suitors 

[70] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



That ever reached the second. — I have spoken 
T© you in pity, but my pity now 
Is for myself, lest you should guess too well. 
Cease, then, I beg you. Rest content with passing 
Your rivals. Go! And I will give you triumph 
In your departure. 

ALTOUM 

Shame ! Fair play, my daughter ! 

CAPO. 

Silence, my lord Altoum! — What says the Khan.^^ 

CALAF 

I answer here by law, risking my death. 
Therefore, O lady, since my love of you 
Surpasses life, I claim my right of law. 

TURANDOT 

[Her eyes flashing] 
By heaven, cold prince, I see I wasted pity 
Upon a heart of ice. Meet, then, your fate! 
I will not weep to watch the headsman's axe. 

CALAF 

I trust you will not, princess. — I am ready. 

1 URANDOT 

[To Zelima] 
O fiend ! My fingers itch to scratch him. 

[71] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[To Calaf] 

Hear, then: 
Reveal, O youth: What is that fetter 

Which, chaining, sets its captive free. 
But broken, makes of hberty 
A weary bondage, little better 
Than death, to one whose spirits mount and sing 
In manacles? 

[Calaf remains silent, pressing his closed 
eyes in thought. Altoum leans for^ 
ward. The people mutter low. Tur- 
andot gazes disdainfully. Soon, 
letting his raised hands fall, Calaf 
speaks with tense calmness.] 

CALAF 

A lover's ring. 

TUR ANDOT 

[Cries out] 
IVhat's that? 

[Clutching Zelima's arm] 
My God ! here is some treachery. 

CAPO. 

Open the second lock! 

[Harlequin unlocks the little box held 
by Punchinello, who reads aloud] 

[72] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PUNCHINELLO 

A lover's ring. 
[A great murmur goes up from the 
assembly] 

ALTOUM 

Wondrous ! The fates are with him. 

TURANDOT 

[Rising, fiercely] 

Not the fates — 
The fiends are with him. I cry out upon 
This answer. Some perfidious hand 
Has tampered with those locks. 

CAPO. 

Respect this hall 
And presence, Princess: We shall judge alone. 

TURANDOT 

False friend, is this your pay for all my trust, 
And this the perfect joy you bid me hope for? 

[To Altoum] 
Father, I cry on you to right this wrong! 

ALTOUM 

The wrong is yours to flout your own decree. 
But right or wrong, my power is hushed : Not here 
But yonder sits the Emperor of China, 

[73] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

Why, this is monstrous. I am sold a slave 
By an abdicated father and a motley 
Who apes the emperor in a player's mask! — 
I'll put no further riddle. 

CAPO. 

[Smiling] 

As you like, 
Princess, but let us keep our humors. If 
There be no final riddle, Keedur wins : 
The priests are ready to perform your wedding. 

TURANDOT 

[Trembling vnth rage] 
My wedding ! — Ah, then, I am duped indeed, 
And must submit to treachery. But you — 
O subtle Khan, dream not to shame me so. 
And win. I will not live to be your wife. — 
Do you still claim your riddle? 

CALAF 

\Who has stood in utter calmness] 
I am ready. 

TURANDOT 

[In fury] 
Then may your answer spike your head in death! 

[74] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[Clutching her throne, she speaks with 
voice quivering] 
Reply, O Prince: What may that be 

Which, light of heart, causes despite. 
But heavy-laden, renders light 
Its bearer, making care so free 
That kings might give their crowns to call it 
Their treasure house? 

[A deep hush falls on the assembly. 

Calaf stands, silent, swaying. 
Slowly lie totters and falls on the steps of 

Capo's Throne. 
There, as Harlequin raises him. Capo 
whispers swiftly at his ear. Suddenly 
then, fixing his eyes on Turandot, who 
stands pale and rigid, Calaf speaks 
thrillingly .] 

CALAF 

A beggar's wallet. 

TURANDOT 

[With a low cry, holding her side] 



Ah! 

[75] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
[To Harlequin] 
Quickly! — The third key! 

[Swiftly Harlequin unlocks the box held 
by Pantaloon, who reads aloud] 

A beggar's wallet. 

TURANDOT 

[Turning y desperately] 
Zelima ! 

ZELIMA 

[Screaming] 
Lady! 

[Snatching from Zelima a little dagger, 
she lifts it and strikes at her own 
breast. Leaping to the throne, Calaf 
intercepts her and turns the dagger 
against himself ] 

CALAF 

Not you, my love ! 

CAPO. 

Disarm them! 

ALTOUM 

Turandot ! 

[Amid uproar, the four Maskers rush 
upon Calaf and wrest from him the 
dagger] 

[76] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

[With fierce disdain] 
Coward hearts! 

CALAF 

[Uplifting his hands to Capo] 

Sire, hear my plea! 

CAPO. 

Order and silence ! — Speak, Sir Keedur. 



Sire, 



CALAF 

If I have won this ordeal by the law — 
Declare it. 

CAPO. 

You have won. 

CALAF 

Then I renounce 
All I have won, and place before this court 
A counter plea. Shall it be granted? 

CAPO. 

What 
Do you petition? 

CALAF 

Sire, since it would shame me 
And her, to take this noble princess' hand 

[ 77 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Without her heart, I quit my claim, but ask 
In substitute, a boon : — I, whom you call 
Sir Keedur, Khan, am royal and a prince, 
But I am not Khan of Beloochistan. 
Keedur is not my name. 

TURANDOT 

So, treachery 
Once more I 

ALTOUM 

Peace, daughter 1 

CAPO. 

[To Calaf] 

Speak. TMiat is your plea? 

CALAF 

This, Sire : Since I have answered now three riddles 
Of Turandot, that she — to make fair play — 
Shall answer one of mine. If she shall guess it, 
I then depart, but if she fail, I stay — 
And wed her. 

TTRAXDOT 

[Soor7ifidly to Capo] 
Hal This jesting, Sire, fits well 
Your new regime. 

[ rs ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 
[To Calaf] 

What is your riddle? 

CALAF 

This: 
Reveal, O Lady : What is he. 

His true-born name. 

His father's fame. 
Who, desperate for love of thee, 
Assumed from far Beloochistan 
The false name — Keedur, Khan? 

TURANDOT 

Nay sir, I'd scorn to answer. W^hat you are, 

Or who, or whence — to me henceforth 'tis nothing. 

CAPO. 

Softly, quick tongue ! To us the game seems fair. 
Sir nameless lover, you shall have your plea. 
'Tis granted. 

TURANDOT 

[Trembling with rage] 
What! — O miracle of shame! 
Perfidious Masker! 

CAPO. 

This your riddle shall 
Be answered here to-morrow by this lady, 

[79] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Or else you shall be wedded to her here 
Before high noon. 

thrandot 
[Descending smiftly from the tkrone] 

Fools ! I defy you — both ! 
[Flinging her sceptre at Capons feet, 
she rushes end] 

CAPO. 

[Rising] 



Follow her! 



[At his gesture, the four Maskers follow 
after. Amid loud murmur and com- 
motion Calaf stands staring at the 
empty throne] 

Curtain 



[80] 



ACT THIRD 



ACT THIRD 

* Scene I: An anteroom in the harem. Night. 
In the centre of the columned room is a table^ on 
which — softly illumined — stands a large crystal howU 
filled vrith swimming gold fishes. 

Nearby, Turandot sits weeping, Zelima beside her. 
Outside, the shrill voice of Punchinello is heard singing 
to the twang of stringed instruments: 

Lady, Lady, let fall your tears 
No more, no more, for foolish fears. 
But let in your true 'playfellow \ 
For Sorrow's a thief 
Brings Love to grief, 

But a merry heart makes him mellow. 
And a merry heart, 0, a merry heart 
Never yet kept fond lovers apart. 

Nor pinched the shoe of their Punchinello, 

TUKANDOT 

[Savagely] 
Drive them away, Zelima! Drive them away! 

*See Appendix. 

[83] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PUNCHINELLO, SCARA:M0IICHE, AND PANTALOON 

[Singing together otitside] 
And a merry heart, O, a merry heart 
Never yet kept fond lovers apart! 

ZELI^L\ 

[Going to the door, puts her head out] 
Begone ! 

[She returns to Turandot. The twang- 
ing outside decreases^ hut still contin- 
ues] 
Take courage, Lady. 

TUHANDOT 

Oh, I have lost 
Courage and faith and kindness. All is dark — 
Dark and disgrace. 

ZELrVLA. 

Tis no disgrace to win 
A husband. 

TUHANDOT 

Win him ! — To be tricked and sold 
In slavery to one I love not — lose 
The one I love, and truckle to the word 
Of an upstart — a false, masquing popinjay 
Of an emperor ! — Yet, no disgrace ! Ah me, 

[84] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Why did your little dagger fail me? Now 
I have no pluck of soul to try once more. 

ZELIMA 

The gods forbid! 'Twere very wicked, Lady: 
And him, that saved you, and gave back your free- 
dom 
So gentlemanly ! 

TUKANDOT 

Ha ! and caught me again 
With his own riddle! Heaven, I hate him. Yet — 
Zelima, did you see his eyes? 

ZELIMA 

[Nodding] 

Most strangelike 
They were. 

TURANDOT 

I must not think upon his eyes. 
Or I might hate him less. No, only one 
Of all men wears the gazes which I love. 
And he is lost to me. 

ZELIMA 

Why lost, my Lady? 
The emperor promised you to search the city 
And find your beggar. 

[ 85 ] 



A THOUSAXD YE.\E5 AGO 



TUKAXDOT 

Capo's promises 
Are like himself — all lies. Xay, I must answer 
This false Khan's riddle, or be doomed to-morrow. 
But how? — "His true-born name, his father's 

fame — " 
"Where shaE I find the clue? Ah, heartless fate 
And stony hearted men! 

THE VOICE OF PT^'CHINELLO 

[Sings outside to the instruments] 
O Lady, Lady, lift up your moan 
Xo more, no more 'gainst hearts of stone, 
But let in your bhthe playfellow! 

TTBAXnOT 

[Wildly] 

Go I Stop them I 

THE VOICE OF TTS CETSJLLLO 

For a stubborn will 
Makes Love to be ill, 

But a merry heart makes him well, 0! 
And a merry heart — 

ZEEDE^ 

[Opening the door] 
Stop 
Your noises! 

[86] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PUNCHINELLO 

[Outside] 

— O, a merry heart 
Never yet kept fond lovers apart, 

Nor tweaked the nose of their Punchinello. 

ZELIMA 

Cease! Her royal highness orders — 

PUNCHINELLO, SCARAMOUCHE AND PANTALOON 

[Pushing past Zelima, enter the room 
bearing bright Chinese lanterns, and 
singing in chorus] 
A merry heart, O, a merry heart 
Never yet kept fond lovers apart! 

[Joined by Harlequin, they pause to- 
gether before Turandot and, pointing 
simultaneously their left toes, strike 
sharply their instruments with a 
sweeping bow] 

TURANDOT 

What fresh presumption of your brazen lord 
Is this? 

PUNCHINELLO 

This is our homage. Lady, Lady! 

[87] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[Thrumming their instruments again, 
they accompany a dance of Harle- 
quin, who by his pantomime indicates 
to Turandot the bowl of gold fishes, 
while Punchinello lilts shrilly:] 

And thus our Harlequin: He's showing 

How all our hearts be overflowing 

With little, lovely, golden wishes 

For your delight — as fine as fishes ! 

TUBANDOT 

Go — go ! 

[Harlequin draws back] 
Why have you come? 

PUNCHINELLO 

To celebrate 
Our lord Sir Capo's great discovery. 

PANTALOON 

[Mysteriously] 
He's found. 

TURANDOT 

Who's found? 

SCARAMOUCHE 

[Darkly] 

By the yawn of Jonah's whale, 
We have disbellied him from Pekin's maw 
And blackest hoUowness. 

[88] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



PUNCHINELLO 

He's trapped, my Lady! 

TURANDOT 

[Chafing] 
Will you tell who? 

PUNCHINELLO 

[In a loud whisper] 
The beggar. 

SCARAMOUCHE AND PANTALOON 

[Sepulchrally] 

Hush! 

TURANDOT 

[Faintly] 

A beggar! 

SCARAMOUCHE 

[Speaks at her ear] 
The louse-gray mongrel with the chalkish beard — 
We've got him kennelled, ha ! 

TURANDOT 

An old man? 

PANTALOON 

[Nodding] 

Pickled! 
[89] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TUKANDOT 

Alas! What are these tidings? Have you searched 
Only to find an old poor man? 

CAPO. 

[Who has entered behind them] 
They found 
Your beggar's gaffer, Lady. — Barak he 
Is called, and lies imprisoned now below, 
Where I will learn from him about your lover. 

TURANDOT 

[Bitterly] 
So you come too. Have you, then, come to break 
Once more the vow you made? 

CAPO. 

[Quietly] 

A single day, 
Lady, you swore me faith and loyalty; 
Yet in one little hour you cast away 
Your faith, to call me traitor. 

TURANDOT 

Had I cause, 
Orno? 

CAPO. 

Is there good cause to break an oath? 
[90] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

You broke your own. You vowed to achieve for me 
Joy — joy, and perfect marriage with my love. — 
Am I, then, joyful? Am I with my love.^* 

CAPO. 

A single day; a single day, I said! 

TURANDOT 

So by to-morrow I must wed this Khan, 

This nameless prince — unless I guess his name. 

CAPO. 

Why not, then, guess it.^ 

TURANDOT 

[Glancing quickly] 
How .5^ 

CAPO. 

[Indulgently] 

Will you renew 
Your broken allegiance? 

TURANDOT 

I am desperate. 
I will do anything to free myself. — 
What shall I do? 



CAPO. 

First swear me faith again. 
[91] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

I swear it. Now tell! 

CAPO. 

How easily ladies swear 
When they are in love ! — Prime-Minister, retire ! 

[The four Maskers y bowing, withdraw 
to the background, where they are 
entertained by Zelima, whom they 
instruct to play upon their instruments 
with a low strumming] 
In the general practice of my specialties. 
Lady, I often recommend for love 
A sleeping-charm — like this. 

[Capo takes from his sleeve a small vial 
and hands it to Turandot] 

TURANDOT 

What should I do 
With this? 

CAPO. 

This, if 'tis poured upon the sleeping lips 
Of man by a maid, or maiden by a man. 
Will make the sleeper murmur in his dream 
Whatever secret thing his soul conceals 
When it is asked of him. 

[ 92 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

[After a pause, gives a sudden cry of joy] 
Ah, now I see! — 
But how can I find access to this Khan 
When he is sleeping? 

CAPO. 

I am emperor, 
And by my new regime, at midnight, all 
The guards retire, and in the men's hall, men 
May pass unnoticed by the others. 

TURANDOT 

[Searchingly] 

Men? 

CAPO. 

[Callsy beckoning] 
Here, Harlequin! — I pray you, princess, stand 
Back to back with this boy. 

[Turandot looks puzzled, and then turns 
and stands hack to back with Harle- 
quin. Capo measures their heights 
with his flattened hand. They sepa- 
rate and Capo indicates Harlequin] 
A hair's breadth higher. 
[With a questioning glance at Turandot] 
A hair's breadth! Will you risk it — by a hair? 

[93] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 



[Growing suddenly radiant] 
O wonderful! — At midnight, did you say? 



CAPO. 



[Smiling] 
Now are we friends — and may I kiss your hand? 

TURANDOT 

[Ardently] 
No, I will kiss yours! 

[She seizes Capo's hand and kisses it. 
He laughs softly] 

Curtain 



[94] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Scene II: A bedchamber, mysteriously lighted. 
The room is vast and magnificent. 
In the centre, by a divan couch, 
Calaf is seated in deep brooding.] 

CALAF 

If she should guess ! — If she should fail to guess ! 

If she should fail to guess ! — If she should guess ! 

O endless, awful night, you are like thought — 

Hollow, unanswering and full of echoes! 

And like my heart you, too, are sleepless, yearning 

With dim and palpitating mystery. 

If she should guess? — Then would I doubly lose 

My love — my life. If she should fail to guess? 

Then how might I dare hold her to my bond 

And wed against her will? — If she should guess — 

If she should fail — Ah, God ! The night gives back 

Only my emptiness, and moment builds 

On moment mountains of hell, and here I sit 

Alone. 

[Rising, he reaches his arms with a low 
cry] 
Alone! 

[95] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

[Entering in the dimness] 
There is no loneliness 
Where thoughts are merry. 

CALAF 

[Staring at him for a moment] 

Merry ! — Sire, I have 
Forgot the meaning of that word. 

CAPO. 

Recall it, 
Then, quickly, for I bring you pleasant news. 

CALAF 

[Eagerly] 
From her? from her, O Sire? 

CAPO. 

From Turandot. 
The lady loves you. 

CALAF 

Loves me ! You are mad, 
Or jesting. 

CAPO. 

To the sober-serious 
Jesting*s a sort of madness. — But no matter. 
The lady loves you none the less. 

[96] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

How is it 
Possible? 

CAPO. 

You've forgot my specialty 
So soon? — or am I skilled in guessing riddles? 

CALAF 

I should have failed without you. 

CAPO. 

Will you try me 
Again? 

CALAF 

But how — 

CAPO. 

Come hither in more light. 
[Calaf moves out of the deeper shadow. 
Capo tips Calaf s face upwards, 
examining it] 
What color are your eyes? 

CALAF 

I do not know. 

CAPO. 

[Nods approvingly] 
Sapphire. — That might describe them, with some 

license 
Of love and rhetoric. 

[97] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

What have my eyes 
To do with guessing riddles? 

CAPO. 

Much to do! 
They have to close and go to sleep, before 
The guessing. Softly now: lie down and close them 
Until tomorrow. 

CALAF 

Would I might! 

CAPO. 

Then do so! 
For on tomorrow morn, I promise you 
Delight — and perfect marriage with your love. 

CALAF 

friend, I am too weary to refuse. 

1 will lie down and dream it is tomorrow. 

[He lies on the couch. A far chiming 
is heard] 
What bell is sounding? 

CAPO. 

Midnight. — Merry dreams ! 

[Capo steals out. Calaf closes his eyes 

and is still. The room is silent and 

dim. After a few moments, out of 

[98] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



the darkness there emerges, scarlet 
and pied, the Figure of Harlequin, 
who tiptoes toward the couch. At a 
sigh from Calaf, the Figure starts 
back, returning more reticently. Again 
Calaf murmurs in his sleep:] 

CALAF 

Turandot! Lady beloved! 

[Standing in a shaft of vague light, the 
Figure of Harlequin lifts cautiously 
a vial and, unstopping it, dances 
softly three times around the divan; 
then pauses close to Calaf, who mur- 
murs once more] 

Princess ! Love. 

THE FIGURE OF HARLEQUIN 

[Chants in a low voice] 
Reveal, O dreamer: What is he, 
His true-born name, 
His father's fame. 
Who, desperate for love of me. 
Assumed from far Beloochistan 
The false name — Keedur, Khan ! 

[Bending above the dreaming form of 
[99] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Calaf, the Figure sprinkles from the 
mat upon his lips; then draws back 
and listens] 

CALAF 

[Murmurs louder in his sleep] 
Be gracious unto me: Calaf, the son 
Of Timur, King of Astrakhan ! 

THE FIGURE OF HARLEQUIN 

[Laughing silverly] 

Aha! 
Calaf! Calaf, the son of Timur, King 
Of Astrakhan! 

CALAF 

[Starting up on the divan] 
Who calls me? 

THE FIGURE 

[Lifting a mandolin strung from the 
shoulder^ strikes a svnft chord and 
bounds away toward the door] 
Ahaha! 

CALAF 

[Leaping to the floor, and following] 
What are you? Stop! 

[100] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[The Figure pauses] 

Come from your shadow! 
[The Figure takes a timid step forward, 
and stops] 

You! 
You, the dumb player, servant of our lord 
The emperor! What brings you here? 

THE FIGURE 

Aha! 
Reveal, O Lady: What is he 
His true-born name, 
His father's fame — 

CALAF 

How's that? Can the dumb speak? 

THE FIGURE 

Calaf , the son 
OfTimur — hail! 

CALAF 

By heaven, a spy! 
[He springs toward the door. The Figure 
tries to pass him but, thwarted, leaps 
back] 

Not yet! 
You shall not go till I have plucked the face 
Out of that mask. 

[ 101 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



[At the door he turns the key and takes 
it] 

The door is locked. Reveal 
Yourself ! 

[The Figure draws away. He strides 
toward it. It escapes] 
Light footed imp! Now by my soul, 
You shall not live to blab beyond these walls 
The secret you have stolen from my sleep. 

[He starts again toward the Figure. It 
dances away from him, striking the 
strings of its mandolin. Round the 
great couch and about the shadowy 
room he pursues it, ever eluding him. 
Suddenly he pauses, and stares] 
Stay! Am I, then, asleep? Are you indeed 
Some imp of dreamland, sent to plague my soul 
With fever shuttle-dances, a pied phantom 
Painting the dark, and tinkling with your timbrel 
These rafters of my riddle-tortured brain? — 
If she should guess — If she should fail to guess I — 
O Night, it is your Echo, mocking me : 
'Tis but a Question, and beneath that mask 
There are no lips to answer! 

[Desperately, he throws himself down by 
[102] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



the couch, burying his face against it. 
After a moment, the Figure approaches, 
cautious, surveys his prone form 
closely, bends as if to snatch at his 
robe, but draws bach and stands hesi- 
tant; then with a gesture half frightened 
removes its mask, and speaks low] 

THE FIGURE 

Calaf, son 
Of Timur — grace ! Give me the key ! 

[Turning, Calaf slowly staggers to his 
feet, gazing with awe on the face of 
Turandot] 

CALAF 

O Dream! 
Dream of my love transmuted to a boy — 
O little dream in motley, speak once more! 

TURANDOT 

The key ! Unlock the door, and let me forth. 

CALAF 

My lady — and her voice ! Yet, shining boy, 
Before my soul loses belief in you, 
Still let me wonder, looking on your image. 
And worship at your shrine — Saint Harlequin ! 
[He kneels before her] 
[ 103 ] 



A THOUSAND YEAES AGO 



TUEANDOT 

I do not ask for worship — but a key. 

CALAF 

The key you ask for locks the gate of heaven 
And we are shut within. Love builds him bars 
To stablish heaven where lovers are locked in. 

TURANDOT 

Lovers? You dare much. 

CALAF 

[Rising] 

He dared more, to say 
You love me, and I dared believe. 

TURANDOT 

[Amazed] 

Who dared 
To say it? 

CALAF 

He who shuttles through our lives, 
Unriddling and riddling, like a restless loom — 
The motley emperor. 

TURANDOT 

Capocomico! 
He is a jester, Sir. 

[104] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

Did he, then, jest 
To furnish you that vial in your hand 
And charm the fateful secret from my lips 
Into your power? Ah, if you do not love me, 
Why have you stolen here now to drag my name 
From dreams — Calaf, your father's enemy. 
Doomed unto death? 

TURANDOT 

[Struggling with herself] 
Nay, ask not. 

CALAF 

Turandot, 
Princess of Pekin, stoops not to betray 
Her enemy, nor steal a riddle's answer 
Thief wise by night, to slay her enemy. 
The thought is slander. No ! — Therefore you love 

me: 
So you have robbed — to save me. 

TURANDOT 

Turn your eyes 
Away! 

CALAF 

Is it not so, Lady beloved? 

[ 105 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

Oh, ask not with your eyes ! — Nor with your thoughts 
Ask not why this bold Harlequin is here 
Thief wise by night, to steal your secret name; 
But let me go! 

CALAF 

[Holding out the key, gazes at her] 
Will you, then, go? 

TURANDOT 

[Reaches for it, but pauses and turns 
back her hand, screening her face] 
Your eyes! 
They blind the space between. I cannot grope 
The key I reach for. 

CALAF 

Will you go? 

TURANDOT 

The air 
Is dim, but bright with pathways to your face. 
And where they lead I falter, like a moth 
To where the lamp shines. 

CALAF 

[In hushed triumph] 

You will stay! 
[106] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

O dark! 
What light and darkness and the murmur of waters 
Lure me toward you? 

CALAF 

Night and yearning stars 
And rush of winds blend us, beloved. Listen! 
Look in my eyes, O love ! — Lean to my lips ! 

TURANDOT 

[Closing her eyes] 
I lean : Let me not fall ! 

CALAF 

Thus will I save you! 
[Reaching his arms passionately, he 
kisses her] 

TURANDOT 

[Starting hack, with a cry] 
Ah me! I am betrayed. 

CALAF 

By Buddha, I swear — 

TURANDOT 

Destroyed. O shame of all my vows forsworn, 
Where have I fallen? 

[107] 



A THOUSAXD YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

On your lover's heart. 
Look, it is I. 

TUEAXDOT 

^Mio's there? 

CALAF 

Calaf, your prince. 

TTRAXDOT 

Calaf I — Now shame put acid on my lips 

And sere them of your kiss I A prince hath touched 

me! 
O you poor bloody heads on Pekin's wall, 
Have you, then, died for this.^ — and Turandot 

Shamed by a prince at last! 

« 

CALAF 

Lady, I beg — 

TUR-\^rDOT 

Not that ! — Ah, do not stab me vrith that word, 
And make me bleed for one who hegs. — The key, 
Give me the key ! 

CALAF 

Mistress, your words go by me 
Like leaves blown wildly. I cannot gather them. 

[108] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TUBANDOT 

Sir prince, I blow them wildly, and I care not 
Whither they whirl. 

CALAF 

Love changes blood to wine. 
The kiss of our communion hath turned wine 
To madden you. 

TURANDOT 

The key! 

CALAF 

[Giving her the key] 

Take it, my lady, 
So you may know your freedom and my love, 
And me your lover, Calaf . 

TURANDOT 

Calaf, not 
My lover. — Calaf, or Keedur, Khan, you are 
Mine enemy in my power. — Until to-morrow. 
Good-night ! 

[She hastens toward the door. Grasping 
her arm, his eyes glow passionately] 

CALAF 

You came here to betray me? — Speak! 
[109] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

I came to win your secret, and to shame you 
Tomorrow at the trial. Let me pass. 

CALAF 

No ! We are in each other's power. Let doom 
Strike on us both together. 
[Inexorably he compels her. She sinks on the couch] 

TTJRANDOT 

In your power! 
What, I? You would not dare — 

CALAF 

Who would not dare.^ 
Infinite ages climbed to this little moment; 
Infinite ages shall sink after it. 
I stand here on its peak to make it mine. — 
Open the door! 

TUBANDOT 

[Trembling] 
Open it? — What will you do.^ 

CALAF 

Now shall the rafters of your palace ring 
With "Turandot, the Harlequin, Calaf's lover, 
Stolen to his arms beside his midnight couch!" 

[110] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

[Shrinking from his gesture] 
Touch me not! 

CALAF 

[Seizing her] 
Wine! Your kiss turns in my blood 
To wine of fire poured foaming, and the flames 
Burn outward toward your lips. 

TURANDOT 

Kiss not again! 
Be merciful, and hear me ! 

CALAF 

Mercy cries 
To God, not to our enemy. — Your lips! 

TURANDOT 

[With fearful appeal] 
My lover, then! 

CALAF 

[Drawing hack amazed] 
Your lover ! 

TURANDOT 

Yea — my love ! 
Your eyes — another blazes in your eyes, 

[111] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CALAF 

Another! Who? 

TURANDOT 

The noblest in this world: 
I love him. I have sworn it. Yet — O Yet — 
My flesh cries out to yours, my soul to yours. 
My hps, my lips to yours. 

CALAF 

[Clasping her] 

Ha, mine at last! 

TURANDOT 

[Repulsing him] 
Clasp me not, lest I cling to you. — No more! 
I idll not. I am his. No kiss of yours 
Can quench his burning image. Let me go! 
But ah, the spell and rapture of your arms — 
Reach them where yearning lovers starve in hell, 
And bless them. — Stop ! My body and soul are his . 
I hate you — I hate you — hate you ! 
[She rushes into the dark. 
Calaf reaches — groping — vrith a wild cry.] 

Curtain 
[ 112 ] 



ACT FOURTH 



ACT FOURTH 

The scene is the same as the second act, scene second, 
except that the back of the great hall of the emperor's 
Divan is now hidden by a decorated curtain. The 
assembly is gathered as before: Capocomico, Turandot 
and Altoum seated on their larger and lesser thrones. 

Before them, Harlequin, Scaramouche, Punchinello 
and Pantaloon are performing a dance. 

At its conclusion Capocomico rises, and addresses 
the Maskers. 

CAPOCOMICO 

Enough! Go, bring the nameless prince before us. 
[Dismissing them with a gesture, he 
turns toward Altoum] 
Altoum, — our greater emperor, the Sun, 
Sits higher even than our august selves. 
And soon shall set his throne at highest noon. 
Then must I abdicate my one day's reign. 
First having sealed your daughter's perfect marriage, 
Ending in joy her doleful year and a day. 

1115] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Therefore, in those brief minutes which are left me 
To consummate these little things, I pray you 
Deign of your courtesy to take my seat 
And let me do the honors. 

ALTOUM 

[Rising from his lesser place] 
As you will! 
Till noon, my thanks for hospitality. 

CAPO. 

Oh, not at all ! 

[Pointing to his seat] 
Pray, make yourself at home. 
[As they pass each other to change places^ 
Altoum speaks to Capo in lower voice] 

Have you performed your task, and saved your head.^ 

CAPO. 

My head was never more attached to me. 

TURANDOT 

[Bending from her throne] 
A word, my liege? 

CAPO. 

Nay, but a hundred, lady ! 
[He goes to her side. She speaks to him 
low] 

[116] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

Have you kept faith with me? Ah — is he found — 
My heart's desire? 

CAPO. 

Your heart's desire is found. 
And waits for you. 

TURANDOT 

[Excitedly] 

Where is he? 

CAPO. 

Lo, he comes! 
[Pointing toward the entrance, he goes 
to the lesser throne. With music of 
their stringed instruments, the four 
Maskers usher in Calaf, haggard and 
dishevelled. Turandot starts, with a 
cry and look of bewilderment at Capo. 
Capo addresses Altoum and the Divan] 
Your Majesty and lords, the nameless prince 
Awaits to learn his name from Turandot. 

CALAF 

[Stepping forward fiercely] 
He waits not, for his name has been betrayed 
To her — and you, false jester, have betrayed it. 

[117] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ALTOUM 

[Amid commotion] 
What's that? 

CALAF 

My liege, why should I play the fool 
In a Masker's comedy? Death holds less scorn 
Than being duped to dance in a puppet-show 
To tinkling mandolins. 

ALTOUM 

Speak out your grievance! 

CALAF 

I stand here in your power, and his. — At midnight, 
By secret sprinkling of a sleeping-charm. 
This masker sent to rob my dreaming lips 
Of the answer to my riddle — 

ALTOUM 

Gods! to rob? 
Your proofs of this ! 

CALAF 

The proofs stand up in me. 
I who did deem it heaven to love your daughter 
Have proved it hell. Your daughter knows my 

secret, 
And all the ravage hidden in my name, 

[118] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



Yet am I nothing, my damnation — nothing 
To her, who loves another. 

ALTOUM 

[Startled] 

What — other? Who? 

CALAF 

*'The noblest in the world." — O noble world, 

There aspiration earns its crown of scorn, 

And baseness wins nobility! In such, 

I'd liever be a beggar. But enough ! 

My fate indeed is nothing, and my name — 

My name is — 

TUEANDOT 

Stop ! your riddle goes unanswered. 
Go you in peace — and friendship. You, Sir Capo, 
Who keep your faith so strangely, set before me 
The heart of my desire. 

CAPO. 

He stands before you. 

TUEANDOT 

Trick me not also. Keep your promise still. 
This man is Calaf, Son of Timur, not 
My heart's desire. 

[ 119 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



ALTOUM 

[Rising, wrathful] 

How! Calaf, Son of Timur! 

CALAF 

Not drowned my liege, in water — but in grief. 

ALTOUM 

My darkest enemy. — So, Capo, this 
Is he whom you would wed within my house 
To my own daughter — Prince of Astrakhan! 
Now by my star, the doom upon his head 
Shall fall on yours — and doubly. I, it seems, 
T, too, am duped! 

TURANDOT 

[Brokenly] 

He has betrayed us all. 

CAPO. 

A single day is short to make all snug. 
The Lord took six. 

ALTOUM 

A single day is all 
My word allowed. I see! You bungled, fool. 
Striving to save your neck, but now your time 
Hangs at the stroke, and you have failed me. Doom 
Falls on you and your fellows ! 

[120] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO J 



THE MASKERS 

[Trying unsuccessfully to salaam] 
Mercy, Sire! 

CAPO. 

[Behind his hand chiding them] 
Where are your manners, my Prime-minister? 
Venetian bows are still the mode in court. 
Whilst we are emperor. 

[Giving a sign to Harlequin, who runs 
out, he turns to Altoum] 
O Sire — elect ! 
Before the ominous gong sounds in mine ears 
That ushers me unto oblivious rags 
To stroll the world again, let me rejoice 
That you have turned your wrath from this brave 

youth 
Upon my humble head. — Congratulations! 
And with exchange of courtesies, I pray you 
Felicitate me and these fellow-players • 
On the happy curtain of our comedy. 

[At his gesture, Punchinello and Panta- 
loon run to the curtain at hack\ 

ALTOUM 

Say rather — tragedy. 

[ 121 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

We stand corrected: 
Or say — romance, where true love laughs through 

tears : 
Name it Romance, and grant us your applause. 

[Punchinello and Pantaloon draw the 
curtain, revealing an oriental altar, 
with idol, beside which stand two 
priests] 



What's there? 



ALTOUM 



CAPO. 



The altar for our ceremony: 
The Wedding of the Princess and the Beggar. 

[Reenter Harlequin, bringing in Barak, 
who rushes to Calaf and embraces 
him] 



My prince! 



BAEAK 



CALAF 



[Overwhelmed] 
Barak — old friend! 
[122] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

[To Zelima] 

Look, look, 'tis he! 
My beggar's gaffer. 

ALTOUM 

[Before whom Harlequin presents three 
tokens] 

What are these? 

CAPO. 

Our trophies: 
The secret of your daughter's malady — 

[Leading Calaf bewildered before Tur- 
andot] 
Lady, receive them with your heart's desire: 
A ring, a rose, a beggar's wallet. 

TURANDOT 

You — 
Are you my beggar .f* 

CALAF 

[Taking from Barak his old cloak] 
I am he who won 
In Astrakhan — this rose, at Pekin gate — 
This ring, and in this ragged beggar's cloak 
You once did smile upon, I now depart. 

[ 123 ] 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



TURANDOT 

Stay, love — You are my noblest in the world ! 

[Calaf turns in wonder and kneels to 
her. She bends and embraces him. 
A great gong resounds] 

CAPO. 

[Presenting his crown to Altoum] 
My liege, I abdicate. And you applaud? 

ALTOUM 

Yea, marvel, Capo. Kingdoms will I give 
To these your fellows. 

THE MASKERS 

[Bowing Venetian] 
Hail! 

ALTOUM 

And to yourself — 
Whate'er you ask for. 

CAPO. 

Then, my liege and lady, 
I beg — this withered rose. 

CALAF 

[Giving it to him] 

Only a flower? 
[ 124] 



4 



A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



CAPO. 

Lovers, that lives beyond its little hour 
In memory. — Adieu! — My players, rule 
Your kingdoms still in masks. — Now for the world! 
[Tossing his gorgeous emperor's cloak 

to Harlequin, he springs away in 

his tattered motley] 

TURANDOT 

[Calls after him] 
What seek you there .^ 

CAPO. 

[Kissing to her and Calaf the withered 
rose] 

More roses and romance ! 



Curtain 



END OF PLAY 



[125] 



APPENDIX 
TURANDOT'S DREAM 



TURANDOT'S DREAM 

In the acted performance of this play, the third act com- 
mences with a scene which sets forth, wholly in pantomime, 
a dream of Turandot, representing — by suggestions of 
mystic light and sound — the state of her distracted mind, 
trying to solve the riddle of Keedur Khan. 

The pantomime takes place in two imaginative settings 
— a mountain top and an oriental street — blending the 
one into the other. 

Out of darkness first appears the outline of the dark 
summit, against a blue-gray radiance of sky. Etched upon 
this Zelima enters, like a shadow-phantom, beckoning. 
Following her to strange music Turandot appears, unsub- 
stantial as shadow, painted opaque on the glowing back- 
ground, like some silhouetted, featureless figure on an ancient 
vase, imbued as by magic with motion and antique gesture. 

Bowing in awe above the brink of darkness, the figure 
of Turandot is led downward (and forward) into obscuring 
mists, tinged with green lights and gules. Out of the mist, 
voices — shrill, bizarre, bell-toned, menacing, mysterious — 
echo the words: "Khan, Keedur Khan, Khan, Khan!" 

While the female forms grope below, the figure of 
Capocomico now appears on the summit, beckoning to 
his four maskers, whose shadow-forms gesticulate weirdly 
toward Turandot. 

"Reveal, O Lady: What is he — 
His true-born name. 
His father's fame — ?" 

Through the interpretive music, the teasing words of 
the riddle are chanted by the varied voices, amid strange 
hiatuses filled with mocking laughter. 

[129] 



APPENDIX 

Lastly, alone, appears the shadow form of Calaf, who 
follows the Maskers downward into the mist, searching 
with arms outgroped toward Turandot. 

There, as the unreal forms pass and disappear, the 
silhouette of Capocomico stands fluting on the mountain 
top. while below echoes the basso and falsetto laughter of 
the Maskers, and the low taunting cry : " Keedur Khan ! " 

As this tableau shuts in darkness, there comes vaguely 
to light in the foreground a street scene. Here, at a 
gateway, beggars with yokes are huddled; before the 
gate, a moving frieze of dream figures, noiseless, pass 
fantastically: Chinese soldiers, high stepping; Turandot 
again, downcast, gUding like a captive with Zelima; 
Calaf, swift searching in pursuit; the Maskers, Uthe, 
grotesque, pointing after him; rearguarded by Capocomico 
— bhthely dominant in gesture, triumphant with fantasy. 

Last of the dream images he also fades in darkness, out 
of which rise the merry strains of a chorus: 

"O Lady, Lady, let fall your tears 
No more, no more for foolish fears, 

But let in your blithe playfellow " 

and Turandot, sobbing beside Zelima on her bench in the 
harem, awakes from her haunting dream of Keedur Khan. 

Zelima bends over her. 

"Alas, my lady, what ails you .^ You cried in your swoon!" 

The merry voices of the Maskers outside sing louder. 

"Oh, I have dreamed, Zelima I Drive them away!" 

Thus follows the first spoken scene of Act Third, as 
here printed. 

As acted, the stage management and lighting of this 
pantomime have been movingly de\'ised by Mr, J. C. 
Huffman. 

Here in description its visionary quality can only be 
suggested. 

[130] 




THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. 



